LEFTIST front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s lead over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro remains steady at six percentage points ahead of Brazil’s October 30 presidential run-off election, according to a poll released yesterday.

Lula has 53% of the vote to 47% for Bolsonaro, the Datafolha institute found, the same numbers as its last poll on October 7.

The figures exclude voters who plan to cast blank or spoiled ballots – 5% of respondents, Datafolha found.

The margin of error for the poll, which was based on interviews with 2,898 people Thursday and Friday, was plus or minus two percentage points.

The latest numbers came as a battle brewed in Brazil over pollsters, which largely underestimated Bolsonaro’s support in the first-round election on October 2.

Datafolha, for instance, had found Bolsonaro trailing Lula by 14 percentage points on the eve of the first round.

In the event, the incumbent finished just five points shy: 48% to 43%.

Bolsonaro cried foul after the election, accusing polling firms of trying to muzzle his popularity.

“We beat the lie,” he said.

Federal police reportedly opened an investigation into polling firms Thursday at the request of Bolsonaro’s Justice Ministry over alleged “criminal practices.”

Competition regulators, meanwhile, opened a separate investigation into whether the firms had carried out an “orchestrated action” to “manipulate” the elections.

However, the head of the Superior Electoral Tribunal, Judge Alexandre de Moraes, ordered the investigations halted late Thursday, saying they were “usurping” electoral officials’ authority.

The probes “appear to show an intent to satisfy (Bolsonaro’s) will,” wrote Moraes, instructing electoral officials to open an investigation of their own into a possible “abuse of power.”

Bolsonaro hit back at Moraes, who doubles as a Supreme Court justice and is a frequent target of attacks from the president.

“The polling firms are going to keep lying. How many votes are they dragging to the other side? People generally vote for whomever’s in the lead,” Bolsonaro said. – AFP, October 15, 2022.