Four years ago, 70 percent of evangelical Protestant Brazilians voted for President Jair Bolsonaro. But according to recent polls, their support has shifted. With his electoral campaign to reconquer Brazil in full swing, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is avidly courting this voting bloc, which is one of Brazilian politics’ biggest prizes and could determine the winner of the next election.
In Rio de Janeiro's bustling Floriano Square in the city centre, residents hurry along to the sound of street vendors and passing tram cars. In this busy setting, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God might almost go unnoticed. However, some 50 people have passed through its doors to worship at lunchtime. Most are women, some still in their work uniforms, and some of whom appear to go into a trance. “Deliver yourself from vice, call on God,” bellows the pastor, mic in hand, in a resounding speech that reverberates up through the roof.
