Brazil’s sitting President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been re-elected for a fourth term in office, even as his conservative opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, rejects the results demanding an annulment.
The big gap between the two candidates, which stands at nearly 4.4 million votes, makes the outcome difficult to challenge legally. This, when Flávio Bolsonaro had won the first round of voting on October 4, 2026, with 47 percent to Lula’s 45 percent.
Since Brazil’s return to democracy in the 1980s, no candidate had ever lost the first round and gone on to win the runoff.
The election day was marked by controversy after a last-minute decision by the Supreme Court extended voting hours by two hours nationwide.
On one hand, Lula’s team had requested for extra time, arguing that a lack of public means of transport left voters stranded in some parts of São Paulo and Bahia.
On the other hand, Bolsonaro’s camp had cited heavy rains in São Paulo and the south as their reason for their request for time adjustment. But they later claimed, with greater outrage, that the blanket nationwide extension just ripped them apart as it unfairly altered the rules of the game.
Superior Electoral Court President Kássio Nunes Marques, appointed to the Supreme Court by Jair Bolsonaro, has confirmed Lula’s victory, saying the extended voting hours did not change the final outcome of the race.
The left-wing leader secured 51.79% of the vote, making him the first president since Brazil’s return to democracy to win a runoff after losing the first round of voting.
“This election was a defeat for denialism and lies,” Lula was quoted as saying after the victory. He added; “long live democracy.”
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