Brazil election: Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro court women

Brazil's presidential election campaign opened Sunday with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing senator Flavio Bolsonaro launching rallies aimed at women voters, a key bloc in a tight race.

Voters in Latin America's largest economy go to the polls on October 4. A Quaest poll released Friday showed Lula on 43 percent and Flavio Bolsonaro on 40 percent in an expected runoff.

Lula, 80, is seeking what would be a fourth and final term. He began his campaign in Sao Bernardo do Campo in Sao Paulo state, where he rose politically as a metalworker and unionist in the 1970s. The Workers' Party estimated the crowd at about 40,000 people.

Women make up 53 percent of Brazil's 158 million voters. Lula told the rally that men must learn from childhood that they are not better than women. First lady Rosangela "Janja" said women were the majority and would elect him again.

Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, launched his campaign on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. The University of Sao Paulo's Political Debate Monitor estimated the crowd at about 9,000 people.

The senator entered the race after his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, was jailed for attempting a coup after losing to Lula in 2022. Flavio Bolsonaro has presented himself as a more moderate version of his father while promising a tougher approach to crime.

At his rally, Flavio Bolsonaro said Brazil needed rescue from corruption, crime, high food prices and public debt. He also appealed to women voters, saying abusers and rapists of women and children would go to jail and leave only after chemical castration.

Lula has made Brazilian sovereignty in the face of US tariffs and pressure from US President Donald Trump a campaign focus. Flavio Bolsonaro has praised the security policies of El Salvador's Nayib Bukele and has said he wants to build more prisons in Brazil.