Lula defeats Flávio Bolsonaro by 4.3 million votes
The 80-year-old leader turned a 2.2 million vote deficit into a victory as voter turnout rose during the runoff.
By Lauren Bello ·
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated Flávio Bolsonaro in the Brazilian runoff held on Sunday. With nearly 99% of ballots counted, Lula received 51.75% of the vote. Bolsonaro, 45, received 48.25%. This result gives Lula a fourth term as president.
Lula trailed by 2.2 million votes after the first round in early October. He finished the election ahead by 4.3 million. No candidate who placed second in the first round has won the runoff since Brazil returned to democracy in the 1980s. The narrow early loss had cast doubt on Lula’s political future for three weeks.
The shift in results correlates with changes in voter turnout. The first round saw an abstention rate of 21.08%. The runoff abstention rate fell to 19.21%. Lula’s allies cited higher turnout as a key factor. Their voters often live farther from polling stations, making access more difficult when participation is low.
Reginaldo Lopes, a key Lula ally, described the result as Brazil sending a message to the world about the extreme right. He said the country would now reorganize the democratic forces. Lula’s supporters gathered in large numbers before the vote. More than a million people stood on Copacabana beach in Rio on Saturday. A larger crowd marched on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo.
The outcome impacts the Bolsonaro family and its international allies. Jair Bolsonaro, the father of the defeated candidate, is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup. He is under house arrest in Brasília. He had hoped to be freed and take a government role if his son won. The loss is also a setback for US President Donald Trump. Trump wanted Brazil to join other pro-Trump leaders in Latin America, including Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia and Javier Milei in Argentina.
Some voters in São Paulo expressed anger over an attempt to disrupt voting. Pro-Bolsonaro politicians allegedly sabotaged public transport in areas that lean toward Lula. The effort failed to stop the vote. Caio Marques, a 40-year-old photographer from Franca, noted that the left woke up in the second round after failing in the first. Lucas Lopes, 32, called the transport disruption another coup attempt.
Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday, began his career as a union leader in the industrial suburbs of São Paulo. He lost three presidential bids before becoming Brazil’s first elected working-class president in 2002. He left office after two consecutive terms and returned by winning the 2022 election against Jair Bolsonaro. On Sunday evening, hundreds of supporters returned to Paulista Avenue to watch the count, waving red flags bearing his face.
