Age, health on the ballot in Brazil's Bolsonaro-Lula runoff

One is a 67-year-old who has been in and out of hospital over the past four years for gastric problems. The other is a 76-year-old ex-smoker and cancer survivor.

But both far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are bending over backwards to project an image of youthful energy as the grueling campaign for Brazil's October 30 presidential runoff election enters the home stretch.

Battling for every last vote, the current and former presidents both face scrutiny over their age and health.

The issue has gained prominence in a relatively young country -- median age: 32.8 -- where many voters are frustrated over the lack of new options, given that the clash pits the man who has led Brazil for the past four years against the one who led it for eight in the 2000s.

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A scroll through the candidates' social media accounts betrays their campaigns' concern, with numerous pictures and videos of the rivals -- both grandfathers -- looking vigorous as they straddle horses, a bull, jet skis and motorcycles (Bolsonaro) or hit a punching bag, lift weights, play the drums and pose in a Speedo-style swimsuit (Lula).

'Spring chicken'

The age issue is most sensitive for Lula, who turns 77 three days before the runoff.

The veteran leftist, who served two terms from 2003 to 2010, has indicated he would not seek a fourth.

"I have four years to get everything done. Everyone knows an 81-year-old can't possibly want to be re-elected," he said in September.

But he has simultaneously laughed off the age issue as he runs his sixth presidential campaign.

"I'm a spring chicken compared to Joe Biden," who was inaugurated as US president at 78, Lula quipped last year.

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Lula, who smoked for five decades before quitting in 2010, was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx in 2011.

The ex-metalworker underwent chemo and radiation therapy, and doctors declared him in "complete remission" the following year.

But his gravelly voice has grown even hoarser on the campaign trail, to the point Brazilians struggle to understand him at times.

"I'm going to have to stop talking (for) a month to recover," jokes the twice-widowed former president, who married 56-year-old Rosangela "Janja" da Silva in May.

Smelling blood, opponents have attacked.

"Lula is physically and psychologically weaker by the day," center-left rival Ciro Gomes posted online in August ahead of the October 2 first-round vote, in which he placed fourth, behind Lula (48 percent) and Bolsonaro (43 percent).

Gomes later backtracked, deleting the post and saying he had been "very harsh."

Bolsonaro backers have been particularly virulent online questioning the ex-president's health.

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Lula has been at pains to prove his doctor's assessment that he has "the health of a bull," crisscrossing the country giving fiery speeches, and hopping up and down at rallies.

"I wake up every day at 5:30 am to work out," beams Lula, who says he started running nine kilometers a day when he was controversially jailed in 2018 on corruption charges -- since overturned.

"I want to live to be 120."

Stabbing after-effects

A decade younger, Bolsonaro has had his share of health issues, too.

The ex-army captain, who was stabbed in the abdomen at a rally during the 2018 campaign that won him the presidency, has had recurring problems ever since.

As president, he has been hospitalized multiple times for intestinal obstructions and undergone six surgeries since 2018: four stemming from the attack, one to remove a bladder stone, and a vasectomy.

When he was last rushed to the hospital, in January, his surgeon, Antonio Luiz Macedo, said the president arrived "crying in pain" and saying, "I'm going to die."

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Macedo said the problem was a shrimp the president swallowed without chewing.

During his hospitalizations, Bolsonaro maintains an active presence on social media, posting pictures of himself flashing a thumbs-up from bed or visiting with First Lady Michelle, 40, the twice-divorced president's third wife.

His eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, said after the last hospital stay that doctors had told his father he needed a regime of permanent dietary restrictions.

But the president has stuck to unhealthy eating habits, according to media reports.

Source: AFP