Lula and Bolsonaro say they are ready for the second round

Last night (Oct. 3), when 98.84 percent of the votes for the presidential elections had been counted and Lula had 48.39 percent and Jair Bolsonaro 43.23 percent of them, both presidential candidates spoke to the press.

Smiling the entire time, Lula gave an optimistic speech about continuing his campaign. He said he is excited to be able to have a debate exclusively with Jair Bolsonaro without other candidates.

"It will be the first chance to have a tête à tête debate with Brazil´s president,” Lula stated. According to him, during the campaign for the second round he will be able to make comparisons between the good things he has done to the country, and what his opponent has done. The former president said he is restarting his campaign this Monday (Oct. 3), and his plans are to travel more around the country, hold more rallies, talk more to people, and convince Brazilian Society about the importance of his proposals.

On the other hand, President Bolsonaro was more serious. He gave an interview to a group of journalists and said during the next four weeks he will show the population the negative consequences of social isolation due to the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine on the country's economy.

"We have a second round ahead of us, where everything becomes equal and we will show the Brazilian population more clearly, especially the most affected class, the consequences of the 'stay at home, we'll see the economy later' policy, the consequences of a war abroad, and of an ideological crisis," he said. Bolsonaro also intends to use leftist governments in South America, such as Chile and Argentina as a negative example, stating that "certain changes come for the worse."

The second round of the elections for the positions of president and governors in some states where the candidates have not been defined in the first round will take place on October 30.