Brazil Elections: With no Lula, race centers on extremes

Brazil's extremist candidates have taken the lead in the race to succeed President Michel Temer, according to the first poll that excluded former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is serving prison time.

In April, Lula turned himself in to federal police to begin a 12-year prison sentence for corruption and money laundering. With almost no chance of running, polls published after he began his prison sentence have continued to show Lula as the frontrunner.

A poll without Lula from research institute Data Poder 360 shows ultra-rightwing lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro (pictured) as the leader of the pack, with support from 25% of prospective voters. Recent polls that included Lula have consistently had Bolsonaro in second place.

Among Bolsonaro's controversial plans are allowing the general public to purchase guns to protect themselves against crime. He also wants to help former members of the armed forces get elected to congress.

Conducted in May 25-31, the poll has leftist candidate Ciro Gomes, of the Democratic Workers party, in second place with 12% of support, followed by Fernando Haddad with 8%.

Haddad, a former mayor of São Paulo, represents Lula's Wokers Party (PT). The PT insists that Lula is still their candidate, and analysts believe the party will wait until the very end to go all in with the lesser-known Haddad in order to time his exposure closer to the October 7 vote.

Market-friendly Geraldo Alckmin of the centrist PSDB party appears in the poll with 7% of voter intention, followed by former environment minister Marina Silva of the center-left Rede party at 6%.

A lack of charisma is said to be a problem for Alckmin. In a scenario run by Data Poder 360 with former São Paulo mayor João Doria running as the PSDB candidate, only 6% of voters supported Doria, who is running for governor in São Paulo state.

Political parties officially nominate their candidates in mid-August, when the campaigns start in earnest and launch radio and TV ads.

If a candidate fails to reach more than 50% of the vote in the election, the top two candidates will compete in a run-off vote on October 28.

Data Poder 360 belongs to Brazilian political news website Poder 360.