Large queues are expected at Croke Park this Sunday when thousands of Brazilian citizens living in Ireland are due to cast their ballot in a crucial runoff to elect their next president.
Brazil's leftist candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is competing against the incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro to become the next leader, in one of the most polarised elections in Brazilian history.
The first round of voting here took place at an English language school on Dublin's North Great George's Street, with queues to vote snaking along the street for hours.
According to the Brazilian Embassy in Dublin, more than 7,600 Brazilians voted on 2 October, with a similar or even larger turnout expected this Sunday at Jones' Road in Croke Park, where polls will be open from 8am until 5pm.
There will be 16 electronic voting machines in place, with Croke Park the only recognised venue that Brazilians living in the Republic of Ireland can attend.
An embassy spokeswoman said: "In order to avoid long queues and increase accessibility to the public, polling has been moved to a more spacious location at Croke Park."
Janaina Lourençato, First Secretary at the Brazilian Embassy added: "These facilities, with the aid of user-friendly direction signs, will allow voters to more readily find their polling sections. Nonetheless, due to the high turnout and the increased number of registered voters, queues might still form."
According to the Brazilian embassy, more than 78% of Brazilians voting here chose to support Luiz Inaácio Lula da Silva in the last round of voting, compared to over 13% who voted for Jair Bolsonaro.
However, recent option polls inside Brazil predict a much tighter race.
With less than one week to go, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is still favoured to beat Jair Bolsonaro by seven percentage points, according to a poll published yesterday.
The survey by pollster IPEC was conducted between 22 and 24 October.
More than 3,000 people were interviewed, with the poll having a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. The first-round vote saw the presidential candidates separated by just five percentage points.
In order to vote, Brazilian citizens living here must have already enlisted their intention to vote at the Foreign Electoral Zone up to 151 days before the election date. Voting must happen in person, with an official Brazilian identification document.
Whilst the 2016 census shows 64% of the Brazilian population was living in Dublin city and its surrounding suburbs, large numbers of people are also expected to travel from towns across Ireland, including Roscommon, Gort in Co Galway and Naas in Co Kildare, where many Brazilians have also settled.
In April 2016 there were 13,640 Brazilian nationals usually resident in Ireland, with the Brazilian population here having more than trebled in size in the ten years since 2006.
Commenting on the large vote by the Brazilian diaspora living in Ireland, the embassy said: "Diplomatic and consular missions of Brazil around the world are committed to ensuring that Brazilians living abroad can fully exercise their citizenship rights.
"The high turnout during the first round of voting is a testament to Brazilians' democratic convictions and trust in the country's balloting system."
Despite Lula's slightly wider lead in the polls, the outcome of Sunday's runoff vote is still expected to be tight, with the result closely watched around the world.
