Presidential frontrunner pledges assist for spiritual freedom in letter to key voting bloc that principally backs Bolsonaro.

Brazilian presidential frontrunner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has printed an open letter to the nation’s evangelicals, as he seeks to chip away at far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s base upfront of a second spherical of voting in tightly contested elections.

The letter, learn at a gathering with evangelical leaders at a Sao Paulo lodge on Wednesday, promised that Lula would respect spiritual freedoms if elected — as he did throughout his 2003-2010 presidency.

“We live at a time through which lies are used intensively with the target of stoking concern in folks of fine religion, pushing them away from a candidacy that’s defending them extra,” the letter mentioned.

“That’s the reason I felt a must reaffirm my dedication to freedom of faith in our nation.”

Brazilians will return to the polls in lower than two weeks, after a first spherical of voting on October 2 noticed Lula beat Bolsonaro however fall in need of what he wanted to keep away from a second spherical.

Lula continues to carry a lead over Bolsonaro earlier than the October 30 vote, however Brazilian opinion polls have underestimated fashionable assist for the far-right chief, who will get a lot of his backing from evangelicals and different conservatives.

Self-declared evangelicals make up nearly a 3rd of Brazil’s inhabitants, greater than double their share twenty years in the past.

Demographer Jose Eustaquio Diniz Alves, a former researcher on the Nationwide Faculty of Statistical Sciences, initiatives they are going to strategy 40 p.c by 2032, surpassing Catholics.

A few of Brazil’s hottest evangelical pastors have campaigned for Bolsonaro, as they did 4 years in the past after they assist carry him to victory.

And about 65 p.c of evangelicals again Bolsonaro, in contrast with 31 p.c for Lula, in response to the newest ballot from Datafolha, launched on Friday. Polls point out that Catholics, in the meantime, largely assist da Silva, who’s Catholic himself.

Within the run-up to this 12 months’s vote, Lula has confronted a smear marketing campaign from Bolsonaro backers accusing him of plotting to shut church buildings if elected.

He additionally has come below assault from Bolsonaro’s camp over abortion, after saying in April it must be a “proper” – then backtracking within the face of widespread backlash within the South American nation.

“Everybody is aware of there was by no means the slightest threat to church buildings after I was president. Quite the opposite,” Lula mentioned in Wednesday’s letter. “My authorities will on no account act in opposition to spiritual freedom.”

With regards to abortion, which is opposed by greater than 70 p.c of Brazilians in most circumstances, Lula additionally sought to assuage fears.

“To me, life is sacred, the work of God the creator, and my dedication at all times has been and will likely be to guard it,” he wrote, including that whereas he’s personally in opposition to abortion, “it is a matter to be determined by Congress, not the president”.

In the meantime, observers proceed to query whether or not Bolsonaro will settle for defeat.

For months, he has claimed with out proof for months that Brazil’s digital voting system is weak to fraud – elevating considerations that he plans to contest the outcomes, equally to former US President Donald Trump, whom he has emulated.

Judicial specialists have rejected Bolsonaro’s fraud claims as baseless.