San Francisco Frontiers - Lula supporters cross fingers in Rio, a Bolsonaro bastion

Rio de Janeiro is the hometown of Lula's right-wing challenger Flavio Bolsonaro, a hardliner on security who enjoys strong support in the seaside city plagued by street crime while favelas are dominated by drug-running gangs.

The senator came out on top in Rio in the first round of elections earlier this month, just like his father, jailed ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro, in 2018 and 2022.

The middle-class Laranjeiras neighborhood goes against the tide, however, and its residents have spent the three weeks in between election rounds staging massive pro-Lula demonstrations.

"The great hope is to reelect President Lula," said NGO coordinator Michely Ribeiro, 39, accompanied by her two young daughters.

The mother told AFP she considers a Bolsonaro win "a threat to human rights."

People milling around Sao Salvador Square, a historical leftist gathering point during elections, were hoping against hope for a fourth Lula term.

"It's an unknown. This election may be the most closely contested in recent years," said Cristina Vermelho, a 63-year-old university professor.

"Let's go, Lula!" the oft-repeated phrase mingled in the air with a non-stop chorus of honking horns.

- 'It's going to work out' -

Final polls showed the two candidates neck-and-neck, with Bolsonaro considered a narrow favorite.

Architect Daniel Gomes, 45, said the election came at a crucial time for Brazil.

"Democracy is at stake. Given the track record of the candidate's father, who already tried to carry out a coup, it's not crazy to think it could happen again," he told AFP.

"I'm scared, but I want to believe it's going to work out."

Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for an attempted coup following his 2022 electoral defeat to Lula.

Bolsonaro junior presents himself as a more moderate version of his firebrand father, whom he has promised to free if elected.

- Bolsonaro is the 'solution' -

While the left took to the streets in large numbers to rally more votes for Lula, Flavio Bolsonaro's supporters also drew massive crowds in the deeply polarized nation.

Thousands of people crowded Rio's affluent Barra da Tijuca neighborhood on Saturday as the presidential hopeful visited the house where his father recovered from a stabbing during his own campaign in 2018.

"I'm a Jair Bolsonaro voter and I believe in the transformation of the country," said teacher Ilma Gomes de Souza, 53.

"When it comes to education, health and security, Rio residents no longer live in peace," he added.

Bolsonaro supporter Martin Silva Peixoto says there is no reason to fear the right-wing candidate.

"Today we have a real right wing," the 43-year-old lawyer said in Belo Horizonte, another city where Bolsonaro won the first round.

"I think it's a solution and not a problem, as many people see it around here," he said.

K.Torres--SFF