Do abstaining voters hold the key to Brazil’s 2026 presidential election?

A final push for victoryWith such a slim margin between the candidates, both campaigns are hoping to court the first-round abstainers ahead of Sunday’s showdown.In the weeks since the first vote, Bolsonaro has promised new tax breaks to help boost the economy.A central part of his platform is a pledge to address his father's legal predicament: Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence following his conviction over a coup plot.Lula, meanwhile, has made reducing abstention a central part of his second-round push.After round one, his campaign has highlighted Lula's work to end Brazil’s six-day workweek and unveiled proposals for free public transport on weekends and debt relief for small-scale entrepreneurs.Goulart said that these measures "have much more of an effect on those who are uninterested in politics than on those who reject the candidates".The first round, however, seemed to hand Bolsonaro an advantage. Not only did he secure the largest number of votes, but many of the candidates who were eliminated were his right-wing competitors.Some experts predict that the nearly 8 percent who voted for those candidates will migrate to Bolsonaro's camp in the final r...