Lula da Silva (C) surrounded by former presidential candidates, September 19, 2022  |  Photo: Twitter/ @LulaOficial

Sao Paulo, September 20 (RHC)-- Seven former presidential candidates from diverse political tendencies have called on Brazilians to support Workers' Party candidate Lula da Silva in the October 2nd elections, when far-right President Jair Bolsonaro will seek re-election for the 2023-2027 term.

This public call was made during a meeting in Sao Paulo that brought together ecologist Marina Silva, socialists Luciana Genro and Guilherme Boulos, labor politicians Cristovam Buarque and Joao Vicente Goulart, leftist Fernando Haddad, and conservative Henrique Meirelles.

"This meeting symbolizes the will that people have to recover democracy in our country," Lula said, thanking all politicians and asking citizens to "erradicate fascism."  "I am here calmly and confidently, because I know the country can function again with Lula... He did it and will do it again," said the former president of the Brazilian Central Bank, Meirelles, who ran as a candidate in the 2018 elections.

"All Brazilian democrats must unite and avoid the tragedy that would be the re-election of the current president," said Buarque, who was also Education Minister in 2003.

Currently, all voting intention polls place the Workers' Party candidate as the favorite to win the elections. Lula has managed to obtain 45 percent of citizen preferences, surpassing Bolsonaro, who has 30 percent. To win in the first round, however, the leftist leader needs to exceed 50 percent of the valid vote.

Meanwhile, the most recent polls also indicate that the evangelical electorate, which represents approximately 30 percent of the Brazilian population, is rapidly becoming disenchanted with Bolsonaro's preaching.

"In one week, Lula grew from 26 to 32 percent within the evangelical electorate, while Bolsonaro fell from 51 to 49 percent," Nacho Lemus, the correspondent for teleSUR, reported, adding that the survey was conducted in the week after Lula's alliance with Marina Silva, a woman who has a strong influence on the neo-Pentecostal electorate.