Lula says Bolsonaro ‘possessed by devil’ as he launches Brazil election campaign

Leftwing frontrunner counters far-right president's efforts to demonize him with evangelical voters in bitterly divided country

Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has formally launched his campaign to reclaim the presidency with a ferocious broadside against his rival, Jair Bolsonaro, who he claimed was possessed by the devil".

Lula's rebuke came on the first official day of campaigning before Brazil's October election when 156.5 million citizens will choose the next leader of a bitterly divided nation.