Lula, Bolsonaro cap campaigns ahead of Brazil's election runoff

Brazil's incumbent left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro have closed their campaign before Sunday's presidential election runoff.

Lula is seeking another four-year term after falling behind in the first round of voting where Bolsonaro edged Lula 47% to 45%.

Both Lula and Bolsonaro capped their campaigns by leading demonstrations in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, respectively, in a final push to rally supporters.

Opinion polls on Saturday show the two candidates are locked in a nail-biting race hinging on details.

Lula, 80, experienced a stunning upset in the first round where he lost to his 45-year-old rival, the son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, by over 2.2 million votes.

Among the nearly 160 million Brazilians eligible to vote, 33 million, or 21% of the electorate, abstained in the first round and could face a small fine for failing to vote without justification.

The country's Superior Electoral Court tested out the voting machines used to receive, transmit and tally election results and confirmed the software installed matched the versions digitally signed and sealed in September.

The court also issued a report that confirmed its presidential vote-tallying database contained no votes before polling began.

Polling stations will conduct similar checks on the day of election when each electronic voting machine will print its own report.

{NO SIGNOFF}

{###}

{Lula, Bolsonaro cap campaigns ahead of Brazil's election runoff}