Lula maintains large lead over Bolsonaro ahead of Brazil election -poll

FILE PHOTO: Former Brazilian President and presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures near his wife, Rosangela Da Silva, during the rally "Todos Juntos pelo Rio Grande do Sul" (All Together for Rio Grande do Sul) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, September 16, 2022. REUTERS/Diego Vara/File Photo

Brazil presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slightly extended his lead over President Jair Bolsonaro less than two weeks before the South American country's election, a poll by IPEC released on Monday showed.

In a first-round vote scheduled for Oct. 2, Lula reached 47% of voters' support against 31% for Bolsonaro, compared with 46% and 31%, respectively, in the same poll a week ago, the survey showed.

In a potential second-round runoff, Lula's lead grew to 19 percentage points from 17 previously, indicating he would get elected with 54% of the votes versus Bolsonaro's 35%.

FILE PHOTO: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro greets supporters while he is escorted by members of presidential security during the 45th Expointer agricultural fair in Esteio, Brazil September 2, 2022. REUTERS/Diego Vara//File Photo

Bolsonaro's approval rate was flat at 30%, while his disapproval rate increased to 47%, from 45% last week.

Pollster IPEC, formerly known as IBOPE, interviewed 3,008 people in person from Sept. 17-18. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

(Reporting by Peter Frontini; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Leslie Adler)