Lula wins Brazil presidential runoff with 51.78% against Flávio Bolsonaro

A comeback win in Brazil

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been re-elected president of Brazil for a fourth term after the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) made the runoff result official. Official figures put Lula at 51.78% of the vote, or 64.1 million votes, against 48.22% and 59.7 million for the senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Lula, who is 80, is the first candidate to win the presidency after trailing in the first round, having reversed a deficit of more than two million votes.

With 99.87% of votes counted by 00:35 Lisbon time, Lula had 64,156,472 votes, or 51.76%. That is the largest vote total of his political career and more than ten million above the 53,879,538 votes he won in the first round.

A count that changed leaders

The count began with a false start. After 0.25% of the votes had been published, the TSE halted the release of results for two hours while voting was extended by two hours. The extension followed a decision by Supreme Federal Court (STF) minister Cristiano Zanin, made after the PT campaign complained that public transport was being restricted in some cities. When counting resumed, Flávio Bolsonaro moved ahead, and at 22:45 Lisbon time, with 13% counted, he led by 0.06 percentage points. Lula regained the lead at 23:30 with 56% counted, and at 00:10, with 97% counted, the TSE said the race was mathematically decided.

First-round backdrop

In the first round, Flávio Bolsonaro took 47.03% of valid votes against 45.16% for Lula da Silva, a gap of 2,224,965 votes. Lula's second-round recovery therefore depended on winning a large share of the votes that had gone to other candidates, and on the extended voting window that followed the PT complaint.

Flávio Bolsonaro47.03%

Lula da Silva45.16%

Flávio Bolsonaro

47.03 %

Lula da Silva

45.16 %

Data from the article text

Protests in Lisbon and Porto

Housing protesters in both cities celebrated the result. At Praça D. João I in Porto, where the camp opened on 10 October, people embraced and chanted for Lula while passing cars sounded their horns. By about 01:00 only a few dozen people remained, with no tents and no visible police presence. At the Rossio in Lisbon, protesters waved Lula flags and sang in Portuguese and Brazilian chants against fascism. The movement decided to stand down for the night, but the celebration was set to continue.

Earlier, in the early hours of Sunday, 25 October, the PSP police dispersed housing protests in Lisbon and Porto with batons and dogs, after more than two hours of tension and orders to leave and remove tents. The protesters refused, citing their constitutional right to demonstrate. The PSP reported 33 injured and 31 people detained for disobedience, while the camp organisers' statement referred to dozens injured. The protesters are demanding a reversal of the new tenancy law, an end to demolitions and evictions without alternative housing, and a brake on real estate funds buying homes. Left-wing parties criticised the police action and asked the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, for clarifications.

Reactions

Secretary-general of the Socialist Party José Luís Carneiro congratulated Lula and called the result an important victory for democracy. He stressed the ties between Portugal and Brazil and described Brazil as a strategic partner for Portugal, the CPLP and the European Union.

“I congratulate Lula da Silva on his election as President of the Federative Republic of Brazil.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also celebrated the result on X, saying the Brazilian people had won. A Portuguese protester at the Rossio described the victory as a win against Trump and against United States imperialism.