Lula wins Brazil runoff with 51.79%; Flávio Bolsonaro seeks annulment over extended voting

Runoff result

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil's presidential runoff on Sunday, 25 October, with 51.79% of valid votes. His rival, Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL), took 48.2%, or just under 60 million votes. Lula is reported to have received more than 64 million votes, the most ever won by a Brazilian presidential candidate, and he will begin a fourth term at the age of 80. Flávio Bolsonaro had won the first round on 4 October, which makes him the first candidate to win that round and lose the runoff. Abstention was the lowest in 20 years.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva51.79

Flávio Bolsonaro48.2

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

51.79 % of valid votes

Flávio Bolsonaro

48.2 % of valid votes

Data from the article text

Extended voting hours

On the afternoon of 25 October, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) extended voting by two hours in polling stations that were still open. The decision followed a request from Lula's campaign, which complained about a shortage of public buses in several cities. Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign had also asked the electoral court (TSE) for an extension, but only in cities hit by torrential rain, and that request was never examined. According to Observador's radio programme, Justice Cristiano Zanin issued the ruling at 17:01.

Bolsonaro refuses to concede

Flávio Bolsonaro announced on Sunday, 25 October, that he would seek annulment of the election and refused to recognise the result. Criticising the ruling, he said:

“What happened is inexplicable. There was a total breach of equality between Brazilians from different states.”

He said the elections should have been annulled and that it is impossible to recognise the result. He also said he would never know how many votes he could have won in states where polling was not reopened. His supporters had gathered at a law office in the Lago Sul district of Brasília, where they cheered when the count reached 13% and fell silent once Lula moved ahead.

SIC commentator Francisco Cudell said a challenge has some legitimacy but that the courts will have to decide. He called the decision a "grande disrupção" because not all regions could keep voting, and said voters must ask why some could continue and others could not. He added:

“it will have to be the law that works”

Lula's victory and reactions

In his victory speech in the early hours of 26 October, Lula promised a strong term and framed the result as a victory for democracy. He told supporters he would commit fully to the job:

“I will do the best mandate that a president has ever done in this country's history.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Lula on X and said he hoped Brazil would keep contributing to the effective protection of human rights. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the vote in Latin America's largest democracy and said he looked forward to deepening the strategic partnership with Brazil. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, also sent congratulations.

Human rights warning

Human Rights Watch urged Lula to make human rights a priority in his new term. Its Brazil director, César Muñoz, said Lula's government had supported democratic institutions and advanced Amazon protection, but had a mixed record elsewhere. HRW said police killings reached a record 6,589 in 2025 and kept rising this year, according to data up to September. It also criticised Lula's 15 October interview, in which he backed lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 16 for heinous crimes, which HRW said would breach international law.