Sao Paulo state hosted the closing acts of the knife-edge Brazil election on Saturday, with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his right-wing challenger, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, each staging a final rally on the eve of Sunday's first round. The state is Brazil's economic powerhouse and carries a fifth of the national vote.

A sea of red and a river of motorcycles

Two very different pictures closed the campaigns. Lula, 80, toured the state on the back of a campaign truck, cheered on by crowds of supporters dressed in red.

• •His backers wore caps and T-shirts declaring "Make Lula President Again" or "Brazil belongs to Brazilians"
• •Flavio Bolsonaro led a parade of hundreds of motorcycles through the interior of Sao Paulo state, in the style of his father
• •Unlike Jair Bolsonaro, he rode on the back of a campaign truck and did not get on a bike himself

A fourth and final term against a promise of change

On the truck, Lula vowed to "defeat the far right". The veteran leftist is chasing a fourth and final term and warns voters that Brazil's sovereignty is at stake under pressure from US President Donald Trump. His main opponent is right-wing senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.

The senator's platform pairs hardline security policies with fiscal austerity, and on the trail he has slammed Lula as "incompetent" while highlighting the high cost of living. In a video published before his rally, he declared: "Let's go, Brazil wants change". If he wins, Brazil will join a growing number of Latin American nations that have swung to the right in recent months.

Voices from the rallies: Trump, prices and democracy

Among Lula's supporters, Adriana Lima, 44, an early childhood educator dressed all in red, called him the only president who cared about the people. She also raised an objection to the US president, saying Trump cannot be allowed to treat Brazil like their backyard.

"It's a very important election," she said. Tiago Lorureto, 35, an accountant and Lula supporter, described the vote as "a choice between democracy and barbarism".

On the senator's side, Marcelo Peressim, 50, who owns a packaging company, turned up at Flavio Bolsonaro's rally with a portrait of the candidate's father. "We work almost 24 hours a day to have a good life and provide a good life for our families," he said, yet "there's never any money left over for us to do anything".

Homemaker Eliane Boscolo, 47, said Trump would not need to take an interest in Brazil's elections "if the country were doing well". "We need things to improve here. If his intervention is necessary, I'm all for it," she said.

What Sunday decides

The presidency is not the only prize on the ballot: Brazil's nearly 160 million registered voters are also picking lawmakers, governors and some senators. Last time, the margin was narrow - in 2022, Lula beat Jair Bolsonaro by only 1.8 percentage points.

For now, the polls point to a second act: neither candidate is likely to win Sunday's first round, and the two stand level in a statistical tie for an October 25 runoff.