The new measures will cost some 273 billion reais ($52 billion) this year and next, according to an analysis of government figures by Reuters, adding to fiscal challenges for whoever wins the election. Congressional approval is pending for 146 billion reais worth of that spending. Federal prosecutors responsible for enforcing electoral law have not taken up calls to investigate the allegations of the president's abuse of his budgetary authority. Lula led Bolsonaro in the first-round vote by 5 percentage points overall, an advantage that opinion polls showed was bolstered by lower-income Brazilians. Auxilio Brasil is not the only program that government critics and legal experts have flagged on suspicion of skirting electoral law.

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