Brazil head to the polls to elect new president, iron-fisted Jair Bolsonaro in the lead

Brazil's 2018 presidential election candidates: Jair Bolsonaro, Fernando Haddad, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Geraldo Alckmin, Ciro Gomes [Courtesy]

Brazilians head to the polls Sunday to elect a new president, with a far-right politician promising an iron-fisted crackdown on crime, Jair Bolsonaro, the firm favorite going into the first round.

Surveys suggest the 63-year-old former paratrooper, who wants to cut spiralling debt through sweeping privatizations and embrace the United States and Israel, could count on more than one in three voters in the vast Latin American nation.