Lula wins Brazil runoff with 51.8%, securing a fourth term

Key takeaways

• President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won Brazil's October 25 runoff against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, according to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
• Lula took about 51.8% of valid votes to roughly 48.2% for Bolsonaro, a margin of nearly 4.4 million votes, AP and AFP reported.
• It is the first time since Brazil's return to democracy that a candidate who finished second in the first round has won the presidency.
• Flávio Bolsonaro said he cannot recognize the result and that his campaign will seek its annulment.
• Lula's new four-year term, his fourth non-consecutive one, is due to begin on January 5, 2027.

Lula wins Brazil runoff: what happened

Lula has won Brazil's presidential runoff and a fourth term, taking about 51.8% of valid votes and defeating Flávio Bolsonaro by nearly 4.4 million votes, according to official TSE figures reported by the Associated Press. Bolsonaro says his campaign will seek annulment.

With the count complete in the early hours of October 26 (UTC), Lula had about 51.8% of valid votes and Bolsonaro about 48.2%, according to TSE data cited by France 24 and AFP. Al Jazeera, citing the electoral authority, reported the same split of just over 51% to about 48%.

The count swung during the evening. According to France 24's live tally, Bolsonaro briefly moved ahead after about 13% of ballots were counted, before Lula regained the lead at the halfway mark and widened it as results came in from the rest of the country.

The AP described Lula as a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump. During the campaign, Trump backed the Bolsonaro family, France 24 noted.

The two-hour voting extension

Polls were due to close at 5 p.m. Brasília time (20:00 UTC) on Sunday. Minutes before that, Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting by two hours, to 7 p.m. (22:00 UTC), according to the AP and France 24.

Both campaigns had asked for more time. Lula's Workers' Party cited a lack of buses in cities including São Paulo and Salvador, while Bolsonaro's campaign cited heavy rain and flooding in southern states, the AP and France 24 reported. The TSE later said voting continued only at stations where it had not finished by 5 p.m., and the AP said it was unclear how many stations stayed open late.

Bolsonaro ally Nikolas Ferreira pointed out that Zanin once served as Lula's lawyer. The AP said the decision could prompt legal action from the Bolsonaro camp.

What Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro said

Speaking in São Paulo after the result, Lula thanked voters and "the youth who took to the streets to defend democracy," according to France 24. He said Brazil "will not accept being anyone's backyard," called for regulation of outside interference through digital platforms, and promised to govern for all Brazilians.

In a short statement from Brasília, Bolsonaro said: "It is impossible to recognize this election; we are going to request its annulment," France 24 reported. As of early October 26 UTC, no court had said whether it would hear such a request.

Left-leaning leaders in the region were quick to congratulate Lula, among them Chile's Gabriel Boric and Bolivia's former president Evo Morales. As of publication, the White House had not publicly reacted.

Brazil runoff in numbers

Sources: TSE first-round totals; runoff figures from TSE data as reported by AP and France 24/AFP, as of about 02:00 UTC, October 26, 2026.

What we know and what we don't know yet

• Known: The TSE count shows Lula ahead by nearly 4.4 million votes. That lead cannot be overturned by the remaining ballots, the AP reported.
• Known: Bolsonaro has said his campaign will ask for the election to be annulled.
• Not yet known: On what legal grounds any challenge will be filed, and how the TSE or Supreme Court will respond.
• Not yet known: The TSE's final certified percentages. Live dashboards showed small differences in the second decimal place as the last sections were processed.
• Not yet known: How Brazilian assets will trade. Bloomberg reported on X that traders were bracing for losses when markets reopen on Monday.

Background

Flávio Bolsonaro, a senator and the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, led the first round with 47.03% of valid votes to Lula's 45.16%, according to the TSE. The final week of the race was fought partly in the courts: each campaign asked the electoral court to disqualify the other.

Markets had rallied after the first round. As we reported, the Ibovespa jumped 7.70% on October 5 and rose about 10% over October, as investors priced in a possible Bolsonaro government with tighter spending. Lula first served as president from 2003 to 2010 and returned in 2023 after beating Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 runoff.

What it means

Lula's win leaves left-of-centre leaders in charge of Latin America's two most populous countries, Brazil and Mexico, the AP noted. It also extends a period of friction with the Trump administration, which has put tariffs on Brazilian goods and sided with the Bolsonaros during the campaign. Elsewhere in the region this weekend, Venezuela's opposition leader returned from exile.

At home, a narrow margin and a promised legal challenge point to a tense handover period. The next steps are any filings by the Bolsonaro campaign, the TSE's formal certification, and the market open on Monday. More coverage: Brazil and Lula.