SAO PAULO, May 19 (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in the first major poll for this year’s presidential election conducted since the publication of a report alleging ties between the right-wing challenger and a disgraced banker.
Lula would win a potential second-round runoff against Flavio by 48.9% to 41.8%, an AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll showed on Tuesday. An April survey had the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro at 47.8% to Lula’s 47.5%.
• Lula also led a first-round scenario with 47%, followed by Flavio at 34.3%, Renan Santos at 6.9%, Romeu Zema at 5.2% and Ronaldo Caiado at 2.7%
• In Brazil, if no candidate gets more than 50% of valid votes, the two frontrunners go to a second-round vote
• Latin America’s largest economy will hold a national election in October
• The poll was conducted after Intercept Brasil published a story alleging Flavio negotiated a commitment of 134 million reais ($26.85 million) from former Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro to finance a film about the life of his father
• Flavio has denied any wrongdoing, confirming that Vorcaro had agreed to finance the film but saying the deal was a “private sponsorship”, with no favors in return
• Vorcaro’s attorney declined to comment. He has been in custody since March accused of trying to bribe a former central bank director, which he denies
• AtlasIntel surveyed 5,032 people between May 13-18
• The poll has a margin of error of 1 percentage point in either direction($1 = 4.9902 reais)
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alex Richardson)
