Up until a few months ago, Brazilians told pollsters that crime and security were their main concerns.
But in the weeks leading up to the election, a scandal involving a jailed banker accused of orchestrating one of Brazil’s largest financial fraud cases has pushed corruption to the top of the list.
The banker, Daniel Vorcaro, is well connected and has ties to many powerful people in Brazil – both on the political right and left.
Flávio Bolsonaro acknowledged asking Vorcaro to bankroll a biopic about his father after voice recordings emerged in which he could be heard asking for 134 million reais ($25.9m; £19.5m).
Police have since then opened an investigation into Flávio Bolsonaro for suspected corruption and money laundering over the financing of the film.
But pollsters say Lula’s campaign was also hurt by the Vorcaro scandal, after alleged links emerged between the disgraced banker and an ally of Lula, the Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Moraes is the man who presided over Jair Bolsonaro’s trial and has made a number of subsequent rulings about the conditions of his detention.
A police report suggested that Vorcaro had made numerous calls and sent a number of messages to a phone number which officers say is linked to Moraes.
The investigators say Vorcaro asked the person with whom he was communicating for help avoiding arrest.
Moraes has denied any wrongdoing but these latest revelations mean that, in the crucial weeks before the election, attention shifted away from the allegations against Flávio Bolsonaro to those against the Supreme Court justice.
Lula has tried to distance himself from Moraes, saying that “no one is above the law”, but his rival has already pounced on the allegations against the judge to make political hay.
“Voting for Lula means voting for Moraes,” Flávio Bolsonaro told his supporters at a rally, using the right’s intense dislike of the judge to shore up his own support.
