MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th October, 2018) Brazil will go to the polls to elect a new president, state governors and lawmakers in the general election on Sunday.
Brazilian voters will choose between 13 presidential candidates. If none of them wins a majority this weekend, the two winners of the first round of the election will meet in the run-off vote on October 28.
Incumbent Brazilian President Michel Temer, who came to power in 2016 following the impeachment of ex-President Dilma Rousseff, will not run for re-election.
BRAZIL'S ANSWER TO DONALD TRUMP
Former paratrooper Jair Bolsonaro, who compares himself to US President Donald Trump, is leading the race. During his political career Bolsonaro was a member of nine political parties and runs in the election as a candidate from the Social Liberal Party of Brazil.
Seen in the country as quite a controversial politician, Bolsonaro was stabbed in the stomach in early September while campaigning in the town of Juiz de Fora.
The politician has been critical of sexual minorities and is known for his sexist remarks as he said women were unworthy of equal pay. He later retracted this claim citing misunderstanding. Bolsonaro was reportedly ordered to pay a Brazilian congresswoman a compensation of over $2,500 after telling her she was not "worth raping."
Bolsonaro has also expressed support for loosening gun control laws.
In foreign policy, the politician has promised to move Brazil's Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and withdraw his country from the Paris climate agreement. He has also been critical of the United Nations and its institutions.
Bolsonaro is in favor of conclusion of new international trade agreements and reduction of tariffs on imports of goods into Brazil.
After Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was imprisoned in a corruption scandal in April, the Workers' Party (PT) nominated former Sao Paolo mayor Fernando Haddad as its presidential candidate. Lula addressed his supporters from prison, urging them to support Haddad in the election.
Today Haddad is the second most popular candidate in the presidential race, supported by 21 percent of Brazilian voters as opposed to 32 percent supporting Bolsonaro, according to the Datafolha polling institute.
Haddad paints himself as "the voice of Lula" but his position is weakened by corruption and money laundering charges.
The politician calls for improving gun control policies, creating a national plan to reduce the number of murders and reforming public security system.
On foreign policy, he speaks in favor of multilateralism and international dialogue, as well as reforming the UN Security Council.
Ciro Gomes, the former governor of the state of Ceara, is the presidential candidate from the Democratic Labour Party. He already run for presidency in 1998 and 2002, and has been in politics for almost 40 years. Gomes served as finance minister in the mid-1990s and as minister of national integration between 2003 and 2006.
In Sunday's election he could be supported by 11 percent of voters, according to Datafolha.
Unlike Bolsonaro, Gomes supports the Paris climate accord encouraging the use of renewable energies.
The politician has also voiced his support for small and medium-sized businesses working in the field of innovation and sustainable development.
Geraldo Alckmin, the ex-governor of Sao Paulo, is the candidate from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party. His participation in the race was overshadowed by Brazil's prosecutors accusing him of administrative misconduct, asking judicial authorities to suspend his political rights.
Alckmin has been suspected of allegedly taking at least 7.8 million Brazilian reals ($1.9 million) from Odebrecht construction company in 2014 Sao Paulo election campaign funding.
During his presidential election campaign, the politician has expressed support to unpopular labor reform, which was adopted under the current Brazilian president. He has also spoken in favor strengthening the fight against organized crime in Brazil.
In foreign policy, Alckmin supports the implementation of the Paris climate agreement and advocates for environmental protection.
