Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a fourth term on Sunday, overturning a first-round deficit to defeat the right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, who has refused to concede and has called for the result to be annulled.1,4,6,7,8
The electoral court declared Lula the winner with 51.8% of the vote to Bolsonaro's 48.2%, a gap of about 4.4 million votes. The BBC said Lula is the first president since Brazil's return to civilian rule in 1985 to be elected after losing the first round, and the Daily Wire noted that since direct presidential elections returned in 1989, no runner-up had reversed a first-round deficit in a runoff. The new term is set to start on 5 January.1,4,8
Speaking to jubilant crowds in São Paulo, Lula said his victory was a "loss for negativity, lies" and added, "long live democracy." He also said, "This, my fourth term, will be the best of any president in the history of this country," and "It will be the one in which I listen most to the Brazilian people." Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin told him, "You, for the second time, have saved Brazilian democracy."1,4
Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, had been poised to give a victory speech after the first round, the BBC reported. After the runoff he called the result "inexplicable" and said it should be annulled. The Daily Wire reported that he refused to concede and vowed to take legal action to overturn the results. The BBC noted that his father had done the same after losing the 2022 election to Lula.1,6,8
At the center of the dispute is a decision by Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin to extend voting nationwide by two hours, which the BBC described as unprecedented. The Daily Wire reported that Zanin issued the order three minutes after polls closed at 5 p.m. in Brasília, by which time polling stations had already shut. Results were held for two hours until a clarification said the extension applied only to stations that had not yet closed.1,8
Both campaigns had asked for more time. Lula's side argued that voters in São Paulo and Bahia could not reach polling stations because of a lack of buses, the BBC reported. The Daily Wire said a judge ordered the arrest of a transit official in Salvador after at least 75 public buses were kept in their garages on Election Day. Bolsonaro's campaign cited heavy rain in parts of the south and in São Paulo.1,8
The Daily Wire wrote that Lula's campaign asked for an extension in every state, while Bolsonaro's asked only for certain cities in three states, and that such requests normally go to the electoral court rather than the Supreme Court. The BBC reported that some Bolsonaro supporters were pointing out that Zanin had once been Lula's lawyer, and were alleging bias; the Daily Wire said Lula appointed Zanin to the high court in 2023. The president of the Supreme Electoral Court, Kássio Nunes Marques, who was appointed by Jair Bolsonaro, confirmed Lula's victory and said the extension did not change the outcome.1,8
Bolsonaro said the ruling changed the rules "in the middle of the game" and created a total breach of equality between voters in different cities and states. His campaign chief, Sen. Rogério Marinho, warned against a "judicial coup," and Bolsonaro allies in Congress are pushing to impeach Zanin, the Daily Wire reported.8
The first round, held on 4 October, had gone the other way, with Flávio Bolsonaro taking 47% to Lula's 45%. The BBC reported that 33 million people did not vote in that round, and that the drop in abstention between the two rounds was the largest for a presidential election since 1989. The Daily Wire said Lula gained ground in all 27 states and added 10.4 million votes between rounds, against 3.7 million for Bolsonaro. The Japan Times reported that Lula had announced measures to ease household finances, including larger Bolsa Familia benefits, a ban on online gambling and a plan to refinance consumer debt with private banks.1,4,8
Markets reacted negatively. The BBC reported that the São Paulo stock exchange opened 15% down, triggering a brief suspension before recovering slightly, and that interest-rate futures rose as investors scrutinised Lula's fiscal plans. The Japan Times wrote that investors had been banking on a Bolsonaro win to fix the fiscal accounts.1,4
Foreign leaders offered congratulations. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X, "The people of Brazil won." Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the two countries had already "flourished under our partnership," and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "democracy and multilateralism" had won. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called the result a victory for the "global south and progressive forces throughout the world." The BBC said US President Donald Trump had not yet reacted.1
Lula faces a Congress packed with Bolsonaro allies. The Daily Wire reported that Bolsonaro's Right-wing Liberal Party won its biggest congressional bench in decades and is now the largest party in both chambers. Creomar de Souza, a political analyst and founder and CEO of Brasilia-based Dharma Political Risk and Strategy, said, "He will need to be able to build a coalition, even as his victory sends a strong message to the radical right, which will have to rethink how it operates." Thomas Traumann, a political analyst and former press secretary to Dilma Rousseff, said, "This was an election of rejection."1,4,8
Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted of a coup attempt following his 2022 loss to Lula, the BBC reported. Flávio Bolsonaro met Trump at the White House earlier this year to seek his support, and Trump has previously shown support for the former president. Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday, has already been president for three non-consecutive terms, from 2003 to 2010 and again from 2023, and he has bucked a wider trend in Latin America, where voters in countries such as Argentina, Chile and Colombia have elected right-wing candidates and parties.1
Whether Bolsonaro's challenge will succeed is not yet known. The BBC wrote that it appeared unlikely to succeed given the size of the gap, and the Daily Wire wrote that the election is now headed for the courts. In his victory speech, Lula said Brazil "will not accept being anyone's backyard," a reference to what Trump has called the "Donroe Doctrine." Lula also said, "This election taught me many lessons," and added, "I can say we'll change the way we govern this country."1,4
