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'Most hated' leaders split Brazil's election vote

Why Brazil remains divided between a far-right and a leftist candidate as its election heads for a run-off vote.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, left, Brazil's former president and a presidential candidate, stands beside his wife, Rosangela da Silva, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sunday, the day the country's presidential election was held. (Amanda Perobelli/Reuters)

In an election that's divided Brazil, Sunday's vote ended up even more split than polls predicted.

Many pollsters had signalled that incumbent Jair Bolsonaro would lose the election on the first ballot, but the far-right populist far outperformed their predictions. Meanwhile, his leftist nemesis, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, failed to reach the 50 per cent of votes needed for victory — triggering a head-to-head run-off vote on Oct. 30. 

Today, Brazilian Report editor-in-chief Gustavo Ribeiro joins us to explain why these candidates are both the "most loved and most hated" politicians in Brazil and why Brazilians remain divided between these opposite ends of the political spectrum. 

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