Brazil election goes to the wire after ill-tempered final TV debate

Henrique Vieira, a progressive church leader who supports Lula, said re-electing Bolsonaro would give him a blank cheque to persecute leftist rivals and perhaps even to try to close congress.

Backers of Bolsonaro, 67, insist they will triumph, noting that first-round polls underestimated his support. Lula won the 2 October vote with 48.4% but Bolsonaro did considerably better than expected, taking 43.2% rather than the 36% or 37% forecast.

Outside the TV studio where Lula and Bolsonaro were crossing swords there was no sign of the gulf between their supporters being bridged.