São Paulo — Brazil’s fiery left-wing former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, retains a strong lead ahead of presidential elections despite his conviction on graft charges, according to an opinion poll on Wednesday. Last week, an appeals court upheld a money-laundering and corruption conviction against Lula and imposed a more-than 12-year prison sentence. The sentence means that the Workers’ Party founder and icon of the Latin American left has few avenues left to being allowed to run in October’s election. Despite the scandal, Lula remains a clear front-runner, the respected Datafolha pollsters found in the first survey since the appeals court decision. In the poll, published by Folha de São Paulo newspaper, Lula would get between 34% and 37% of votes in a first round on October 7. This is far ahead of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who polls with 16% to 18%, according to Datafolha. A crowded field is currently disputing third place in the poll, including environmentalist ...
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