Brazilians head to polls in high-stakes, polarized election

(Updates after voting starts; ​includes voting and comments from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in 10-13; ‌Adds ​voter comments in paragraphs 19-21 and 24-25) By Brendan O'Boyle, Luciana Magalhaes and Rodrigo Viga Gaier

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - B razilians queued in long lines to vote on Sunday in the first round of a tight election, following a campaign dominated by corruption scandals, economic anxiety and accusations of US meddling. The field of 13 candidates has been dominated by two clear frontrunners — leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 80, who is seeking a fourth term, ‌and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who hopes to return his father's right-wing movement to power.

A victory for the senator would extend a wave of wins across Latin America by right-wing candidates aligned with US President Donald Trump, while Lula's reelection could create a headache for Washington, which has clashed with his government over trade and security. Despite growing worries over the public finances and sluggish economic growth of Brazil, the campaign has offered meager policy debate, as both leading candidates skipped the major TV debates.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of valid votes, the top two will face off on ‌October 25. Surveys show Lula and Flavio polling roughly even in a likely runoff. LEADING CANDIDATES VOTE

The fallout from Jair Bolsonaro's conviction last year has colored much of the campaign. Trump, who called that case a "witch hunt," imposed a 50% tariff on Brazil in 2025, explicitly linking the tariffs to ‌the trial of Bolsonaro after lobbying from the Bolsonaro family to pressure Brazil's Supreme Court to drop the charges.

Flavio has promised to seek amnesty for his father, who is serving a sentence of more than 27 years for plotting a coup after his narrow election defeat in 2022. Lula's allies have warned that the Trump administration might refuse to recognize election results if he wins, pointing to an aborted effort to send US officials to Brazil.

"What is at stake is the future of Brazil," Lula said after voting in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in Sao Paulo state. While polls right up until Saturday showed Lula would likely lead the first round but not avoid a runoff, Flavio told journalists he was confident he could win the presidency ⁠in the first round.

"Our internal ​polling shows we overtook the first round some time ago," Flavio said after ⁠voting in Rio de Janeiro, where he was accompanied by his mother, Rogeria Bolsonaro, who is running for a seat in Brazil's lower house. Trump has not formally endorsed a candidate, though he hosted Senator Flavio Bolsonaro at the White House and praised him publicly.

The senator, who has pledged closer ties with the US and Israel, welcomed the Trump administration's designation of Brazil's major ⁠gangs as terrorist groups, which Lula rejected. Also in play is US access to Brazil's vast critical mineral reserves, key to Washington's push to reduce dependence on China for those materials.

ECONOMIC HEADWINDS Despite falling inequality and unemployment, Lula has struggled to win over voters grappling with high living costs, heavy household debt and the threat of street crime and ​more pervasive gang activity.

However, the president's social policies have remained attractive among some voters who favor his progressive agenda. Architect Mariana Kiel, 53, in Sao Paulo, said she planned on voting for Lula.

"We've had a government that recognized that, for a country to grow, everyone must rise ⁠together," Kiel said, wearing a Lula t-shirt while walking her dog. Flavio Bolsonaro has sought to capitalize on cost-of-living concerns, while Lula has moved to ban online gambling and, as the race tightened, expanded welfare and proposed fresh debt relief for families.

Rising spending and public debt above 82% of GDP have stoked fiscal concerns that Brazil's next president may need to address. The government lowered its economic ⁠growth ​forecasts for this year and next to just 2.0% and 2.3% respectively. "We need to remove Lula because he is destroying the country," Fernando Tempel, 49, a management consultant, told Reuters.

While he planned to vote for a different candidate, Tempel said he changed his mind to back Flavio Bolsonaro, citing recent Supreme Court decisions on the elections. SCANDAL-PLAGUED CAMPAIGN

Overshadowing the policy debate, a scandal surrounding the now-defunct Banco Master has engulfed much of Brazil's political class and renewed public anger over corruption. Daniel Vorcaro, who ran the bank, was arrested earlier this year and accused of a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. The investigation has probed the banker's ⁠ties to figures from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to Flavio Bolsonaro, who is being investigated for money laundering tied to the case by the federal police.

The senator has denied any wrongdoing, although he confirmed raising millions of dollars from Vorcaro to make a movie about his father. The ⁠banker's connections to Moraes, seen by many as a Lula ally, plunged the court ⁠into crisis a month before the vote, creating fresh problems for the president. Moraes has said the case is politically and electorally motivated by his conviction of the elder Bolsonaro.

On Sunday, voters will also elect all 513 lower house members and two-thirds of the Senate, where some lawmakers have pushed to impeach Moraes. Congress has gained greater influence in Brazilian politics since the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff, a Lula ally, in 2016, raising the stakes of ‌those legislative races.