Brazil’s Lula widens first-round lead, remains tied with Bolsonaro in runoff polls

SAO PAULO, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro remain statistically tied in a simulated runoff ahead of next month’s election, while the leftist incumbent widened his lead in the first round, two polls showed on Monday.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of valid votes in the October 4 first round, the two frontrunners will advance to a runoff on October 25.

QUAEST POLL

• In a potential runoff, Lula and right-wing Bolsonaro would each receive 42% of the vote, according to a Quaest poll commissioned by Globo.

• A week earlier, Quaest showed Bolsonaro at 42% and Lula at 41%.

• In a first-round scenario, Lula would lead with 39% of the vote, followed by Bolsonaro with 34%; the previous survey had them at 37% and 33%, respectively.

• Quaest surveyed 2,004 people from September 24 to 27; margin of error 2 percentage points.

BTG PACTUAL/NEXUS POLL

• Lula would receive 46% of the vote in a runoff, compared with 44% for the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, according to a BTG Pactual/Nexus poll.

• A September 21 survey showed Lula leading Bolsonaro by 46% to 45%.

• In a first-round scenario, Lula would receive 42% of the vote and Bolsonaro 37%, compared with 40% and 37%, respectively, in the previous poll.

• Nexus surveyed 2,000 people from September 25 to 27; margin of error 2 percentage points.

(Reporting by Michael Susin in Barcelona, Isabel Teles and Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo)