Lula re-elected Brazilian president in runoff

Brazilian incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, candidate of the ruling Workers' Party, won Sunday's presidential runoff, according to results released by Brazil's Superior Electoral Court on Sunday night, reported Xinhua.

With 99.89 percent of the votes counted, Lula received 51.77 percent of the valid votes, compared with 48.23 percent for Flavio Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party's presidential candidate and son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, according to the official tally.

Lula will be sworn in on Jan. 5, 2027, for a four-year term, marking his fourth election as Brazil's president.

News agency ANI adds: According to the latest vote tabulation figures, a total of 119,086,628 ballots were cast, representing a voter turnout of 80.94 per cent.

The tally recorded 115,256,621 valid votes, while blank ballots stood at 1,324,805 (1.11 per cent) and null votes reached 2,505,202 (2.10 per cent).

The official voter abstention rate was recorded at 19.06 per cent, representing 28,046,421 electors who did not cast their ballots.

According to Brasil 247, the 2026 election is the largest in Brazil's history, with 158.7 million people eligible to vote. Around 86% of the electorate is subject to mandatory voting, while voting is optional for 14%. Nearly 89% of registered voters have biometric records, which are used to facilitate identification at polling stations.

According to Al Jazeera, Brazil’s 2022 presidential election was among the closest in the country’s history.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in the October 30 runoff, securing 50.9 per cent of the vote against Bolsonaro’s 49.1 per cent, a difference of approximately 2.1 million votes, Al Jazeera reported.

Bolsonaro outperformed expectations in the first round, reducing Lula’s lead despite trailing him in pre-election opinion polls.

During the runoff vote count, Bolsonaro initially took the lead before Lula moved ahead as more ballots were counted. Bolsonaro did not immediately concede defeat following the announcement of the results, the news report added.

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