Lula stages mass rally ahead of Brazil’s presidential run-off

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva addressed a massive crowd on Sunday, advocating for extended worker's holiday days as he prepares for a runoff election against his conservative rival, Flavio Bolsonaro. The enthusiastic audience gathered along Sao Paulo's Paulista Avenue, draped in red to symbolize Lula's Workers' Party.

Lula, seeking his fourth consecutive term, is striving to close the gap with Bolsonaro, who stunned voters by winning the first-round vote on October 4. Recent polls indicate Bolsonaro as the frontrunner for the October 25 runoff. While Bolsonaro has suggested a plan to reduce public spending, akin to Argentina's Javier Milei, Lula is focusing on enhancing workers' rights as a central theme of his campaign.

The Brazilian Senate is scheduled to vote on Wednesday on a bill, passed by the lower house in May, to increase paid vacation days from one to two per week, and shorten the maximum workweek from 44 to 40 hours. Lula challenged Bolsonaro to clarify whether he supports more leisure time for workers or prefers them to continue working longer hours, according to Lula's remarks to reporters. Bolsonaro has dismissed the proposal as opportunistic.