Brazil votes as Lula and Bolsonaro's son head for a likely runoff

Brazilians vote Sunday for president, governors and Congress, with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva facing Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro in a race polls call too close to call.

Brazilians vote on Sunday in a presidential election that pits President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, in a race that polls suggest is heading for a runoff.

Nearly 160 million people are eligible to vote in Latin America's largest country, where voting is compulsory. They are also choosing governors, members of Congress and state lawmakers.

The result will shape relations with Washington. Lula has built his campaign around defending Brazil's sovereignty against what he calls US interference, while Bolsonaro, a senator, has campaigned on security, spending cuts and the cost of living, and his campaign has borrowed imagery from President Donald Trump.

Trump has not endorsed a candidate. He said he is following the election "very closely" and called it "very important," according to Axios.

Twelve candidates are on the ballot. If no one wins more than half of the valid votes, the top two will meet in a runoff on October 25.

That looks likely. A Datafolha poll taken September 22 and 23 put Lula at 40% and Bolsonaro at 36% in the first round, with the rest of the field in single digits. In a head-to-head runoff, Lula led 47% to 45%, within the margin of error.

A Quaest poll conducted September 24 to 27 found a similar picture: Lula ahead 39% to 34% in the first round, and the two tied at 42% in a runoff.

Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth, non-consecutive term in his seventh run for the presidency. Bolsonaro, 45, is running in place of his father, who is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup.

Both men skipped the final televised debate on Thursday, the first time in two decades that the leading candidates have avoided it, according to AP. The broadcaster, TV Globo, cited legal uncertainty after two court rulings.

"You cannot bring someone who has 49% (in the polls) to debate with someone who has 1%," Lula said. Bolsonaro blamed what he called "censorship imposed by the electoral court."

Violence is voters' top concern, cited by 31%, followed by corruption at 20% and the economy at 19%, according to polling reported by Al Jazeera.

Bolsonaro also faces a corruption investigation linked to the financing of a film about his father, Euronews reported. On the environment the two are far apart: deforestation in the Amazon has fallen by roughly half under Lula, and Bolsonaro said in August that he does not believe climate change is real.

Polls close at 5 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET). Brazil's electronic voting system usually produces results within hours.