US and Australia suspend diplomatic operations in Brazil days before election

The United States suspended consular services in Brasília on October 2, and Australia closed its embassy the same day; both cited security concerns without elaborating, three days before Brazil's presidential election. Lula da Silva, 80 and seeking a fourth term, and Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, are in a dead heat according to polls, with a runoff expected on October 25 if neither wins outright. Lula's party called the US move politically motivated, a charge that will be hard to settle either way but that lands in a race already shaped by claims of outside interference.

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