Brazil's youngest voters are betting on a 76-year-old comeback candidate

At a samba bar in Rio de Janeiro, three university students are engaged in a vigorous political debate as they count down the days to Brazil's presidential elections.

Their preference? "We are seated in an 'L'" for Lula, Letizia Corvello, a 22-year-old law student, told AFP.

Brazil's youngest voters are staking their future on the oldest of the two frontrunners: 76-year-old leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is hoping for a comeback 12 years after leaving office at the end of two successive presidential terms.

Lula has a strong lead in the polls over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, 67. The men face off in a first voting round on Sunday.

"The last thing I want is for Jair Bolsonaro to be re-elected," said Corvello.

"We need to fight for our future and for that of the university" where she studies.

Young people have led the anti-Bolsonaro movement in Brazil with protests against his cuts to education spending, his management of the coronavirus epidemic, and police violence.

"Some of the environmental issues, the destruction of the Amazon and just the... egregious policies of Bolsonaro are of concern to a lot of especially younger people," analyst Michael Shifter of the...