Lula wins Brazil's presidential runoff against Flávio Bolsonaro and secures a fourth term

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) declared President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT) re-elected on Sunday night, after he overturned a first-round deficit against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL) in the presidential runoff. G1 reported that the result was declared at 21:08 Brasília time (00:08 GMT on Monday 26 October).

With 100% of polling stations counted, as of 01:11 GMT, Lula had 64,242,975 votes (51.78% of valid votes) and Flávio Bolsonaro 59,819,307 (48.22%), according to TSE figures published by The Guardian. That is a margin of about 4.42 million votes. Abstention was 19.21%, about 30 million registered voters, down from 21.08% in the first round, while 1.12% of ballots were blank and 2.12% were spoiled, G1 reported. The TSE counts only valid votes, which exclude blank and spoiled ballots.

In the first round on 4 October, Flávio Bolsonaro came first with 47.03% and Lula second with 45.16%, a gap of about 2.2 million votes. The Associated Press (AP) reported that this is the first time since military rule ended in 1985 that the runner-up in a first round has gone on to win the presidency. Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday, will begin his fourth, non-consecutive term on 5 January 2027, AP and the BBC reported. For the final pre-vote polls and first-round figures, see our runoff preview.

What the candidates said

Lula posted “Obrigado, povo brasileiro!” (“Thank you, Brazilian people!”) on his official X account at 01:09 GMT, and began a live address to supporters at about 01:11 GMT, streamed on the same account. He had followed the count at a hotel in São Paulo with First Lady Rosângela da Silva and allies, AP and G1 reported. Speaking to reporters after voting on Sunday morning, Lula said that people had taken to the streets to defend their gains and that the right “wants to govern with the American flag”, DW reported, citing AFP. Earlier in the day, when asking for voting to be extended, he said that in past elections he had always accepted the result, win or lose, DW reported.

As of 01:20 GMT, Flávio Bolsonaro had made no public statement on the result. His most recent post on his X account was published before polls opened on Sunday. TSE President Kassio Nunes Marques said he had telephoned both Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro to inform them of the result, CNN Brasil reported. Before the result, Valor Econômico reported that the senator had not commented on the extension of voting and had been advised to wait for the official result before making any statement. After voting in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning, he said it was time for “real change”, O Globo reported.

Two-hour extension of voting

Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ordered polling stations to stay open until 19:00 Brasília time (22:00 GMT), two hours later than scheduled. Both campaigns had asked for extensions: Lula’s campaign cited a shortage of buses in cities including São Paulo and Salvador, and Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign cited heavy rain in the south, AP reported. AP said Zanin made his ruling three minutes before polls were due to close, that it was unclear how many polling stations actually stayed open, and that the decision may lead to legal action by Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro ally Nikolas Ferreira noted that Zanin was previously Lula’s lawyer, AP reported.

Rogério Marinho, coordinator of Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign, criticised the ruling on social media, writing that he hoped no “judicial coup or administrative trickery” would succeed, Valor Econômico reported. Lula’s allies instead criticised the TSE president for what they called a delay in acting on the transport complaints, O Globo reported.