Polls open in Brazil as voters choose president in run-off elections

Polling stations in Brazil opened at 8am on Sunday as the country prepares to elect its next president in a contentious run-off vote. The favorite in the race is right-wing lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro, 63. He ran an anti-establishment campaign and came first with 46 percent of the votes during the first round on October 7. Bolsonaro’s opponent from the left-wing Workers’ Party is Fernando Haddad, 55, former mayor of San Paulo. He got 29 percent of the votes in the first round. Former Workers’ Party chief Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva ruled Brazil from 2003 to 2011, and was later sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption and money laundering – charges he insists were pushed by his political opponents.