Lula wins a fourth term in Brazil as Flávio Bolsonaro refuses to concede
Brazil's electoral court has called Sunday's presidential runoff for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, completing a comeback after he trailed Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round.
The Global Sun Desk ·
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been re-elected president of Brazil after winning Sunday's runoff against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro. The Superior Electoral Court announced the result a little after 9pm in Brasília on 25 October. Bolsonaro said he could not accept the outcome and would ask for the election to be annulled.
According to the court's count, Lula took 64,256,232 votes, or 51.79 per cent of valid ballots. Bolsonaro received 59,826,041, or 48.21 per cent. That is a margin of roughly 4.4 million votes. Abstention fell to about 19 per cent from about 21 per cent in the first round, AFP reported.
A comeback from behind
The result reverses the first round on 4 October, when Bolsonaro finished ahead of Lula, with about 47 per cent against Lula's 45 per cent, according to Al Jazeera. Neither passed the 50 per cent mark needed to win outright. Lula, who has now won the presidency four times, will be sworn in on 5 January 2027.
Voting itself was messy. After both campaigns petitioned the Supreme Court, Justice Cristiano Zanin ordered polls to stay open for two more hours, until 7pm Brasília time. Lula's side had complained that buses were pulled from service in some areas, which raised claims of voter suppression, and his allies blamed Bolsonaro supporters for the thinner timetables. Bolsonaro's side pointed to downpours in southern states where he is traditionally strong. Bolsonaro later argued that some polling stations had shut by then and could not reopen in time, and called the extension "unacceptable".
The dispute over the result
In a short speech in Brasília, Bolsonaro said: "It is impossible to acknowledge the result." He accused the Supreme Court of having "changed the rules of the game mid-game" and said he would seek an annulment. His father is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing to Lula in 2022.
Lula thanked the voters who turned out "to secure democracy in the country". Acknowledging that he will face a right-leaning Congress, he said: "I do not choose the Congress. It was the people who chose it, and it is with them that I will vote, work and get things approved." He also addressed relations with Washington, saying Brazil "will not accept being anyone's backyard", according to AFP. The Trump administration imposed 50 per cent tariffs on some Brazilian products last year and sanctioned several judges, including Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Reactions and what lies ahead
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X: "Long live democracy, the people of Brazil have won." Chile's José Antonio Kast and Ecuador's Daniel Noboa, who are seen as allies of US President Donald Trump, also congratulated Lula, AFP said.
Lula campaigned mainly on the cost of living. Al Jazeera notes that poverty declined and joblessness stayed low in his third term, although rising household debt has left many Brazilians feeling worse off. He championed a change to the constitution, approved this month, that shortens the working week. Whether he can pass further measures through a Congress tilted to the right is the main question for his new term.