Brazil: long queues and river journeys mark decisive presidential vote

Across Brazil, voters made their way to polling stations on Sunday 25 October as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva faced Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in a runoff election. In the Amazon rainforest, residents of the isolated Lago do Catalão community travelled by canoe and motorboat to cast their ballots, relying on waterways to access polling facilities. In Rio de Janeiro’s Rocinha favela, long queues formed as residents waited to vote, reflecting the deep divisions surrounding the election. In Brasília, 59-year-old Cleonice Campos arrived at her polling station holding a small doll resembling President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, keeping it close before casting her ballot in support of the incumbent president.