Lula Wins Six Points in Vote Intention for Presidential Election

According to a poll carried out by the DataPoder360 institute, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva has strengthened his leadership in the race to the 2018 election

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won six percentage points over the past few weeks in vote intention, thus strengthening his leadership in the race to the 2018 election, according to a poll published today.

Between July, when Federal Judge Sergio Moro sentenced Lula to nine years in prison in the framework of the anticorruption operation Lava Jato, and August, the founder of the Workers’ Party (PT) increased voters’ support from 26 to 32 percent, according to the survey, carried out by the DataPoder360 institute.

In the two scenarios designed with Lula’s participation, the ex-president wins, in both cases against Jair Bolsonaro, from the Christian Socialist Party (PSC), who also gained four percentage points in vote intention during the same period.

If in addition to Lula and Bolsonaro, the presidential race involves Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckim (Brazilian Social Democracy Party, PSDB); Ciro Gomes, from the Labor Democratic Party (PDT), and Marina Silva (Red), the percentages of votes would be 32, 25, 4, 4 and 3, respectively.

One of the reasons for Lula’s increased vote intention is, according to the digital newspaper Brasil 247, the perception, by most voters, that he has been judicially persecuted, while the politicians from other parties, especially the PSDB and the ruling Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), are armored by that power.

On Wednesday, the newspaper published an interview with the PT governor in Minas Gerais, Fernando Pimentel, who noted that ‘if by any reason, Lula were prevented from being a candidate, they might be pushing the country to unprecedented social convulsion.’