I t was the night before the first round of Brazil’s presidential election and Rosimari Monteiro was so excited she couldn’t sleep. The 38-year-old spent hours tossing and turning at her home in the Amazon town of Mucajaí before rising at dawn to cast her vote.

“I was the first person to vote at my polling station … I voted 22, so we got off to a positive start,” recalls Monteiro, as she stands in her sitting room with her two young daughters.

Twenty-two is the number Brazil’s electronic voting system uses to identify the far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, who is hoping to beat the leftwing incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , in this year’s election.

“To us, he represents the future. We want a light at the end of the tunnel.…