Jair Bolsonaro, a candidate for Brazil’s presidency came on top in Sunday’s vote and will face off with his rival Fernando Haddad in the runoff, exit polls and preliminary official results shown.
Early Monday, Rosa Weber, the chief of the top electoral court, confirmed that Brazil’s presidential election is headed to a runoff after neither candidate won the majority of the votes.
"I announce two candidates that will go into the second round of the presidential elections. They are Jair Bolsonaro, who obtained 46 percent of valid votes, and Fernando Haddad, who won 28 percent," she said in a televised address.
She said there was no final result. A tally on the court’s website showed Bolsonaro in the lead with 46.2 percent of the vote against Haddad’s 28.9 percent, with 99 percent of ballots counted.
With 53.93 percent of ballots counted, Bolsonaro was leading in the race with 49.02 percent of the vote. Fernando Haddad of the Workers’ Party was second with 26.09 percent, the electoral committee said.
An exit poll by Ibope suggested Bolsonaro would come first with 45 percent of the vote, followed by Haddad with 28 percent. A candidate needs more than 50 percent of votes to avoid a runoff on October 28.
Previously, the data of the Datafolha pollster revealed that Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro extended his lead over rivals as potential support for him in the election had increased from 32 percent to 35 percent since the beginning of the week.
Candidate Fernando Haddad was expected to be supported by 22 percent of the voters. The poll was held on Wednesday and Thursday among more than 10,000 people in 389 Brazilian municipalities.
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The first round of the Brazilian presidential vote was scheduled to take place alongside the parliamentary election on Sunday. The second round is set to be held on October 28.
