THOUSANDS of supporters of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gathered outside the Supreme Electoral Court in the capital Brasilia last night to back his right to contest the forthcoming presidential election.

Lula’s supporters, organised by the Workers Party (PT) and the Landless Workers Movement (MST), filed into the centre of the capital on Tuesday night in three separate mobilisations.

He leads in opinion polls ahead of the first round of presidential voting on October 7 but is almost sure to be barred under Brazil's clean slate law.

For his supporters, Lula's absence from the election would be a travesty.

The electoral court has until September 17 to rule on his candidacy registration.

If he is barred, Sao Paulo governor Fernando Haddad, who is designated as the vice-presidential candidate on Lula's ticket, would probably take his place.

The former president was convicted through a dubious legal process of taking a luxury flat as a bribe from the Odebrecht construction company.

The case was part of a mass of corruption prosecutions stemming from the giant “Car Wash” probe into systemic embezzlement and bribery among the political elite.

Major criminals are now in government defending each other and blaming honest left-wing politicians.

Right-wing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has accused the left of responsibility for the huge rise in violent crime, promising to give further protection to one of the most lethal police forces in the world.

An average of 14 killings a day by Brazilian police officers was registered last year — a 20 per cent increase on 2016.