With two days left until Brazil's presidential runoff scheduled for October 25 local time, incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, seeking his fourth non-consecutive term, and right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro are locked in a fierce, unpredictable race.

Initially, candidate Bolsonaro was favored after winning the first round, but as President Lula mounted a fierce late surge, the election has turned into an ultra-tight contest with an unpredictable outcome.

According to a poll released on October 22 by the polling firm Datafolha, candidate Flavio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL) led with 47% support, edging out President Lula of the Workers' Party (PT), who stood at 46%, by a mere 1 percentage point.

In last week's poll, Bolsonaro registered 47% and President Lula 45%. The gap has narrowed from 2 percentage points to 1 percentage point in just a week.

As a result, the two candidates are effectively tied within the margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The poll showed that only 2% of voters have yet to decide on a candidate.

Five percent of respondents said they would cast blank ballots.

Bloomberg analyzed that excluding invalid and blank ballots, the support rate for both candidates stands at a 50-50 split.

Candidate Bolsonaro emerged as the frontrunner after defying expectations to defeat incumbent President Lula in the first round of the presidential election on October 4.

However, President Lula launched a fierce counteroffensive leveraging his "incumbent premium."

The Brazilian government recently raised welfare support funds for low-income households under the Bolsa Família program by 15% and decided to disburse them ahead of the election.

True to President Lula's pledge, the Brazilian Senate passed a five-day workweek bill reducing the workweek from 44 to 40 hours.

Simultaneously, a late consolidation of President Lula's support base has left the outcome too close to call until the very end.

On the other hand, soaring inflation and worsening public security are seen as President Lula's vulnerabilities.

He also faces personal legal risks, including corruption allegations involving his son.

Candidate Bolsonaro gained momentum amid the recent wave of conservatism in Latin America, attacking the misrule of the leftist government.

Since the democratization in 1989, no candidate who won the first round of a Brazilian presidential election has ever lost the runoff.

However, critics point out that Bolsonaro's rise to power gives voters a sense of aversion regarding a "dynastic succession."

Candidate Bolsonaro is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison on charges of plotting a coup and is currently under house arrest.

He has even publicly vowed to pardon his father immediately if elected president.

Furthermore, candidate Bolsonaro himself has been implicated in various corruption allegations.

He recently faced intense backlash after showing up at a TV debate with the word "corruption" written on the palm of his hand to attack President Lula.

The showdown between these candidates is also highly significant as it reflects the direction of Latin America's "blue tide," a wave of right-wing governments coming to power.

If candidate Bolsonaro ultimately wins, Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, would join the blue tide following countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Peru.

The two candidates are set to square off in their final TV debate on October 23.

(Photo: Getty Images)