Lula Takes 51.78% To Win Brazilian Runoff, Bolsonaro Plans Challenge

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court reported that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva captured 51.78 percent of valid votes in Sunday's presidential runoff, compared with 48.22 percent for Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. The count was confirmed late Sunday night, giving Lula a fourth non-consecutive term in office.

Voting across the country was slowed by heavy rain and technical trouble. Polls originally set to close at 7pm local time remained open for two additional hours. That extension was approved by the Supreme Court.

Bolsonaro said he would contest the result and blamed the schedule change. "We will engage our legal team and seek to have these elections annulled," he said. "I will not accept that the rules of the game have been arbitrarily changed, once again, by Lula's friends on the Federal Supreme Court." Reports from the campaign trail state that both camps requested the extension, citing downpours and transport delays that kept some voters from reaching their stations.

Lula becomes the first presidential candidate in modern Brazilian history to lose the opening round and then take the second. He addresses supporters on 5 January 2027, when his new term starts. His platform centers on cooperation with emerging economies and national sovereignty, with domestic focus on poverty reduction, social spending and environmental protection. He has long criticized Israel and the United States, supports Palestinian statehood, and has backed stronger ties with Iran and China.

Speaking after the count, Lula said he "will deliver the best term any president has ever served" and added that he would work "24 hours a day" toward that goal. "In this election, we defeated the interference that was coming from the outside in," he said. "Brazil is no one's back yard."

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, United States Senator Bernie Sanders and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were among those who sent congratulations.