Brazil's political landscape is intensifying ahead of the 2026 presidential election, with rival camps staging competing rallies to mobilise supporters. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and senator Flávio Bolsonaro (son of former president Jair Bolsonaro and a leading opposition figure) each held high-profile events, signalling an early and combative start to the campaign season. The duelling rallies underscore the deep polarisation in Latin America's largest democracy, where the 2026 vote is shaping up as another defining clash between the left and the nationalist right.