Brazil's general election campaign officially begins on Saturday with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva holding a slim lead over right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, following a candidate registration deadline that drew 13 hopefuls. A Quaest poll conducted for Globo between 10 and 13 August shows Lula at 43% and Flávio Bolsonaro at 40% in a projected second round, with the incumbent leading the first-round field at 38% to Bolsonaro's 31%.
Flávio Bolsonaro, a 45-year-old senator and eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro — declared ineligible by the electoral court over a plot to overturn his 2022 defeat, has narrowed the gap from five points in early August to three.
The Organization of American States will deploy an observer mission under an agreement signed Thursday by OEA Secretary-General Albert Ramdim and Brazil's envoy Benoni Belli. The OEA, which found the 2022 elections conducted normally, joins the European Union, Parlasul, the League of Arab States, and other groups sending monitors to the October vote.