Brazil election results 2026: Key takeaways from Lula’s historic win

Key points

• Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won Brazil's presidential runoff with more than 51 percent to Flavio Bolsonaro's 48 percent.
• The 80-year-old president secured a record fourth non-consecutive term after trailing in the first round.
• Bolsonaro pledged to annul the vote, citing extended voting hours and accusing Justice Cristiano Zanin of misconduct.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won Brazil's presidential election, taking more than 51 percent of the vote to Flavio Bolsonaro's 48 percent, with 98.76 percent of ballots counted when authorities declared him the winner. The result gives the 80-year-old leftist president a record fourth non-consecutive term, a comeback no Brazilian presidential candidate has achieved in nearly four decades.

The runoff was closely contested and uncertain until the end, with the candidates virtually tied in pre-election polls. Three weeks earlier, Bolsonaro, a right-wing senator and son of jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro, had beaten Lula in the first round on October 4, winning 47.03 percent to Lula's 45.16 percent, a margin of 2.2 million votes.

Dispute over extended voting hours

Both campaigns sought more voting time on Sunday. Lula's camp accused local officials of cutting public transport in several cities, while Bolsonaro's campaign asked for extra time in areas hit by heavy rain and flooding. Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ordered polling stations to stay open until 7pm Brasilia time instead of 5pm, but stations that had already closed remained shut, causing confusion and turning some voters away.

Bolsonaro said he would seek to annul the result and accused Zanin of judicial malfeasance. "He changes the rules of the game mid-game," Bolsonaro said. Brazil's Federal Police are investigating alleged election-related transport disruptions in five states, and in Salvador a court ordered the arrest of the city's transport secretary over alleged cuts to bus services.

He changes the rules of the game mid-game

— Flavio Bolsonaro

Turnout and regional support

Lula gained ground as results arrived from the northeast, a long-standing stronghold for him and his Workers' Party, according to Reuters. Bolsonaro has large bases in the south, southeast and centre-west. Andrei Roman, head of polling firm AtlasIntel, cited a drop in voter abstention as one factor behind Lula's victory; about 33.4 million Brazilians, roughly 21 percent of the electorate, stayed home in the first round.

In his victory speech, Lula said the election was "a defeat for denialism" and "a defeat for lies," and described having to overcome outside interference. He thanked his supporters, saying he doubted that Russia, China or the United States had "an army as victorious" as his backers. Trump, asked on Sunday whom he wanted to win, declined to name a candidate and said: "I don't want to get into that, but we are watching."