Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been re-elected president of Brazil, the official Brazil election result shows, after he beat Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL) in a run-off on Sunday 25 October. With all ballot boxes counted, Lula won 51.79% of valid votes, or 64,256,232, against 48.21%, or 59,826,041, for Bolsonaro, according to figures from Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE). The margin was about 4.4 million votes.
The TSE confirmed the outcome on Sunday evening. Lula, of the Workers’ Party (PT), is due to begin a new four-year term in January 2027.
A comeback from second place
The result reversed the first round on 4 October, when Bolsonaro finished ahead with 47.03% to Lula’s 45.16%. The US outlet Salon reported that it was the first time since Brazil returned to democratic presidential elections in 1989 that the candidate placed second in the first round went on to win the run-off.
According to an analysis by the Brazilian financial news site InfoMoney, Lula added about 10.3 million votes between the two rounds, while Bolsonaro gained around 3.7 million. His gain exceeded the roughly 9.5 million first-round votes of the three eliminated candidates, Augusto Cury, Renan Santos and Romeu Zema, so higher turnout also played a part. Abstention fell from 21.08% in the first round to 19.22%, with about 128.2 million of 158.7 million registered voters taking part.
Lula’s total was the highest ever for a Brazilian presidential candidate, CNN Brasil reported, beating his own 2022 tally of 60,345,999.
Where the votes came from
- North-east: Lula’s vote in the region rose by about 3 million. He took 71.31% in Bahia and 69.19% in Pernambuco, InfoMoney reported.
- Minas Gerais: Lula overturned Bolsonaro’s first-round lead to win narrowly, by 50.43% to 49.57%.
- São Paulo: Bolsonaro carried São Paulo state with 53.85%, according to the regional electoral court, though Lula won the state capital.
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Dispute over extended voting hours
Polling day was overshadowed by a row over transport and voting times. Both campaigns sought longer hours in some areas: Lula’s over reports of reduced bus services, Bolsonaro’s citing rain, flooding and power cuts in five states. Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting until 19:00 Brasília time at polling stations that were still receiving voters, Vatican News reported. The order was communicated at 17:18, when about 80% of stations had already closed, and Zanin later clarified that closed stations were not to reopen.
On election night Bolsonaro said he could not recognise the result and would seek to have the election annulled. He criticised Zanin’s decision as changing the rules during the vote and claimed that PL monitors had been removed from the TSE’s secure tabulation room. The TSE rejected that claim as false. It said two PL monitors had followed the count at its headquarters on Sunday and pointed to attendance records and filming of the tabulation room.
By Monday his position had shifted. Members of his campaign told CNN Brasil, as reported by Diario de Pernambuco, that he had dropped the annulment request and would instead pursue cases in the electoral courts alleging abuse of political and economic power during Lula’s campaign. His legal team said around 20 such requests had been filed; it will be for the electoral courts to assess them.
What the two sides said
Lula said that once an election is won there are no more opponents, and that he must govern for all 215 million Brazilians. He said he wanted a respectful relationship with Congress and thanked young voters for their part in his victory.
Several major parties quickly accepted the outcome. MDB, Republicanos, PSD and União Brasil, which had backed Bolsonaro, all recognised Lula’s win, as did the PSDB, which stayed neutral in the run-off. Some of Bolsonaro’s own allies, including São Paulo governor Tarcísio de Freitas, reportedly urged him to concede while keeping his legal challenges open.
Abroad, US President Donald Trump questioned the result, saying it “looked like another rigged election, frankly”, according to Salon. Brazil’s electoral court has said it has full confidence in the voting process.
Why the Brazil election result matters
Brazil is a G20 economy, so its direction matters beyond its borders. Lula now faces a Congress that, according to Salon, moved further to the right in the first-round legislative elections. Bruno Ronchi, a political scientist at the University of Rennes, told Salon that Bolsonaro’s movement remains a major force among conservative voters.
Brazil’s courts have often been central to its politics, as Westferry Times noted when it explained the 2024 ban on Elon Musk’s X. How the electoral courts handle Bolsonaro’s challenges will be watched closely before January.
Sources: TRE-SP, Eleições 2026: Lula é reeleito presidente da República (25 October 2026); CNN Brasil, Lula bate o próprio recorde (25 October 2026); Vatican News, Lula é reeleito presidente do Brasil (26 October 2026); InfoMoney, De onde vieram os votos que elegeram Lula? (26 October 2026); Correio, TSE desmente Flávio Bolsonaro (26 October 2026); Diario de Pernambuco, Flávio Bolsonaro diz que vai pedir anulação das eleições (25 October 2026); Diario de Pernambuco, Flávio Bolsonaro desiste de pedir anulação da eleição (26 October 2026); Movimento Econômico, MDB, Republicanos, União Brasil e PSD reconhecem derrota de Flávio Bolsonaro (26 October 2026); A Seguir Niterói, Com 100% das urnas apuradas, Lula é reeleito (26 October 2026); Salon, Bolsonaro concedes but Lula’s fight has just begun (27 October 2026).
