Rio favela voters see little hope in Brazil election

Residents of Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro's largest favela, voted in Brazil's presidential election on Sunday with security, sanitation and the cost of living among their main concerns.

Queues formed along the hillside community's streets, where about 100,000 people live. Voters were choosing between a dozen presidential candidates, with leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing senator Flavio Bolsonaro described as the frontrunners.

Several residents said they had little faith that the election would bring major change. Antonio Machado, 70, said people were unsafe even at home because of stray bullets. Fabricia de Melo, 27, said violence had lasted for years but described Lula as the "lesser of two evils." Bricklayer Maicon Santana, 22, criticised problems with sanitation and education, while tech worker Joao Batista, 36, said he voted for Bolsonaro because of the cost of basic goods.

Bolsonaro has pledged to restore state control, designate armed groups such as Comando Vermelho and First Capital Command as terrorist organisations, and build more maximum-security prisons. Lula has also vowed to "reclaim the territory" and introduced late-campaign measures including higher welfare payments and a ban on sports betting.

Rocinha has long been affected by fighting between drug gangs and heavily armed police. The Brazilian Public Security Forum, a non-governmental group, says police in Brazil killed an average of 17 people a day between 2019 and 2025.