Polls show Lula winning runoff with eight-point lead over Bolsonaro

Brasilia, October 7 (RHC)-- Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will win the elections in the runoff with a wide lead over the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, according to a survey by the Ipec institute released on Wednesday.   According to the poll, in the second round, scheduled for October 30th, Lula would have 51 percent of the votes, compared to 43 percent for Bolsonaro.

Counting only valid votes, discounting blank and invalid ballots, Lula would have 55 percent and Bolsonaro 45 percent.  The survey shows a slight growth of the leftist candidate against the stagnation of Bolsonaro, who would have practically the same result as in the first round.

In the first round, Lula obtained 48.4 percent of the valid votes against 43.2 percent for Bolsonaro.
Opinion polls failed remarkably, as, on the eve of the elections, they even predicted a lead of more than ten points for the leftist leader.

On October 1st, the Ipec institute gave 51 percent of votes to Lula and 37 percent to Bolsonaro, while Simone Tebet and Ciro Gomes would tie with five percent each.  The distance between the forecasts and the result served as fuel for Bolsonaro and several politicians of his closest circle to question the polls and even proposed the creation of legal mechanisms to punish their mistakes