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Brazil poll shows jailed Lula extending lead for October election

Monday, 20 August 2018 3:58 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 20 August 2018 6:11 PM ]

Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's supporters walk during the Free Lula March in Brasilia, Brazil, on August 14, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has increased his support by almost 5 percentage points and would win Brazil's October presidential election if he is allowed to run, a poll by CNT/MDA showed on Monday.

Electoral authorities are expected to bar Lula from the election due to a corruption conviction. Despite that, he took 37.3 percent of voter intentions in the latest poll, up from 32.4 percent in the same poll in May.

His nearest rival was far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro with 18.3 percent, followed by environmentalist Marina Silva with 5.6 percent and business-friendly Geraldo Alckmin with 4.9 percent.

Support for Marina Silva and center-left candidate Ciro Gomes has slipped since the May poll, while support has increased for Bolsonaro and investors' favorite Alckmin, a former governor of Sao Paulo state.

It was the first major poll since candidacies were officially registered last week, but it did not provide results for the likely scenario of a race without Lula.

The leftist leader was jailed in April to start serving a 12-year sentence for receiving bribes.

The nationwide survey of 2,002 people was carried out by pollster MDA for the transportation sector lobby CNT between Aug. 15 and 18 and has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.

(Source: Reuters)

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