A STEEP hill and a concrete wall divide the worlds of Gabriela Moura, a student from Paraisópolis, a favela in the city of São Paulo, and Roberto Inglese, a lawyer from the prosperous neighbourhood of Morumbi. But on October 7th the two paulistanos were united in their choice for Brazil’s president: Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain. “All the other politicians are corrupt,” said Mr Inglese, who drove his SUV to vote at a private Italian school. “We need someone with a strong fist against crime,” said Ms Moura, who feared walking to a government-run day-care centre to vote because she had recently been assaulted nearby.
Such sentiments have brought Mr Bolsonaro to the verge of victory in a run-off, to be held on October 28th. He won 46% of the vote in the first round in a crowded field of candidates. His run-off rival is Fernando Haddad of the left-wing Workers’ Party (PT), whose de facto leader is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former president who is serving a jail sentence for corruption. Mr Haddad enters the second round 17 percentage points behind. Betting markets give Mr Bolsonaro an 85% chance of becoming Brazil’s next president.
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