Brazilians head to the polls with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro neck and neck

Brazilians are going to the polls today to elect a president in a run-off vote that is being closely watched around the world.

Incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, also known as Lula, is taking on Senator Flavio Bolsonaro - the son of disgraced former president Jair Bolsonaro - and the two have been broadly neck and neck in the closing days.

Donald Trump, a vocal defender of Jair Bolsonaro since his election defeat in 2022, hasn't publicly endorsed any candidate.

But Lula has accused his opponent of plotting with the Trump administration and warned Washington against encroaching on Brazil's sovereignty.

It also comes at a time when the White House's foreign policy is shaped by an idea originally advocated in the 1830s - the Monroe doctrine - that the Americas should be a US sphere of influence.

‌Lula and Mr Bolsonaro wrapped up their campaigns on Saturday ahead of the vote, mobilising supporters and making a final push for undecided voters.

A series of polls ‌on Saturday showed Mr Bolsonaro and Lula about level, with ​the right-wing politician still ‌favourite to win after finishing ahead of the ​leftist incumbent in the first round.

Lula is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term. He said at a rally in Rio de Janeiro: "We're going to win the election for one simple reason: it's true that the people want change, (but) they want ​to move forward. They don't want to go backward."

Later, the 80-year-old president led another march in Sao Paulo.

Mr Bolsonaro, meanwhile, joined a motorcycle caravan in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, a key battleground state. No candidate has won the presidency without taking Minas Gerais since the country's return to democracy in the 1980s.

"The ​time is almost here. There are only a few hours left before ​we shape the future of our nation for the next 30 or 40 years," Mr Bolsonaro said in a social media video.

He later ⁠also took his campaign to Rio, which he has represented in the Senate since 2019.

The younger Bolsonaro is supported by his father. ⁠The former president was sentenced to over 27 years in ​prison for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula.

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Like Mr Trump in the 2020 US presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro refused to concede he lost the 2022 vote, triggering riots by supporters who stormed government buildings.

The Brazilian supreme court convicted him in September 2025 of plotting a coup to remain in power.

The US has taken action against those who it says have been involved in the "persecution" of Jair Bolsonaro and others on the right of Brazilian politics.

In July 2025, Washington announced a series of measures, including revoking the visas of eight supreme court justices and imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods.

In the same month, the US announced sanctions against Brazil supreme ⁠court justice Alexandre de Moraes - who led the criminal investigations into Jair Bolsonaro - citing his alleged violations ⁠of free-speech rights by censoring anti-government social-media posts.

Washington ​eventually watered down the trade sanctions, after major US and Brazilian firms reliant on bilateral trade pushed back.

Meanwhile, in December, without an official explanation from the Treasury Department, the US removed Justice Moraes from its sanctions list.

Mario Braga, a Latin America analyst at risk intelligence firm RANE, believes Mr Trump may have opted not to publicly endorse Mr Bolsonaro to avoid being seen as meddling in Brazil's election - something that could rebound by boosting Lula's popularity.

Nonetheless, after Mr Bolsonaro narrowly beat Lula in the first-round election earlier this month, Mr Trump called it a big victory.

"Close, but a very, ​very big victory," he told reporters. "Amazing, actually."

(c) Sky News 2026: Brazilians head to the polls with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro neck and neck<