Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Brazil's presidential election

Bolsonaro's sudden rise has been propelled by rejection of the leftist Workers Party (PT) that ran Brazil for 13 of the last 15 years and was ousted two years ago in the midst of the country's worst recession and political graft scandal.
His leftist rival Fernando Haddad, standing in for the jailed PT founder and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been trailing Bolsonaro since the first-round vote three weeks ago.
Many Brazilians are concerned that Bolsonaro, an admirer of Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship and a defender of its use of torture on leftist opponents, will trample on human rights.

Former Army captain Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil' presidential election on Sunday, riding a wave of frustration over corruption and crime that brought a dramatic swing to the right in the world's fourth-largest democracy, official results show.

With 94 percent of the ballots counted, Bolsonaro had 56 percent of the votes in the run-off election against left-wing hopeful Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party (PT), who had 44 percent, according to the electoral authority TSE.

Bolsonaro's rise has been propelled by rejection of the leftist PT that ran Brazil for 13 of the last 15 years and was ousted two years ago in the midst of a deep recession and political graft scandal.

Laura Chinchilla, the former president of Costa Rica who is head of the Organization of American States' Electoral Observation Mission, said the vote had been calm and orderly across the country, which has suffered a spate of partisan violence during the campaign.

Many Brazilians are concerned that Bolsonaro, an admirer of Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship and a defender of its use of torture on leftist opponents, will trample on human rights, curtail civil liberties and muzzle freedom of speech.

The 63-year-old seven-term congressman has vowed to crack down on crime in Brazil's cities and farm belt by granting police more autonomy to shoot at criminals. He also wants to let more Brazilians buy weapons to fight crime.

His leftist rival Haddad, standing in for the jailed PT founder and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, had been trailing Bolsonaro since the first-round vote three weeks ago.

The last round of opinion surveys on Saturday had showed Haddad narrowing a wide polling gap. Endorsements from leading legal figures in Brazil's unprecedented fight against political corruption also raised hopes among Haddad supporters that he could pull off what would be a stunning upset.

Haddad had reduced Bolsonaro's lead from 12 to 8 percentage points in five days, according to the Ibope polling firm that gave him 46 percent of voter support compared with Bolsonaro's 54 percent. A Datafolha poll also released late Saturday showed Bolsonaro had 55 percent and Haddad 45 percent.

While Haddad had gained traction in the polls, he failed to win the key endorsement of center-left former candidate Ciro Gomes, a former governor of Ceará state in the northeast, which would have given him a big lift in Brazil's poorest region.

University student Daniel Castro Correa de Souza, who voted for Gomes in the first round, opted for Haddad on Sunday in an effort to stop Bolsonaro.

"Bolsonaro represents a rupture in democracy, a threat to democracy, because he has authoritarian thoughts. I can't agree with that," said 21-year-old Souza, after casting his vote in Brasilia.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
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