Brasilia: Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a fourth term as president on Sunday, overturning a first-round defeat, and his opponent has refused to accept the result.
With all votes counted, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court put Lula on 51.79% (64,256,232 votes) and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro on 48.21% (59,826,041) — a margin of nearly 4.4 million votes. It is the first time since Brazil returned to democracy in 1988 that a candidate who lost the first round has gone on to win the presidency.
On October 4, Bolsonaro had won the first round with 47.03% to Lula's 45.16%. Between the two rounds Lula added more than 10.3 million votes. He flipped Minas Gerais, the only state to change hands, expanded his share in all nine north-eastern states, and moved from second to first in 211 municipalities, including two state capitals, Rio de Janeiro and Macapa.
Flavio Bolsonaro, addressing supporters in Brasilia, called the result "inexplicable" and said he would seek its annulment, arguing that "the rules of the game were changed" when the Supreme Court extended voting by two hours. Both campaigns had in fact asked for an extension — Lula's team citing voter suppression from a shortage of buses in several cities, Bolsonaro's citing bad weather in the south. The president of the Supreme Court has confirmed the result, and electoral law experts told reporters that the chances of an annulment are remote.
Lula's new term begins on 5 January 2027 under constraints at home and abroad, including animosity from US President Donald Trump. His victory also interrupts a run of conservative wins across Latin America.
The man he defeated is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Lula on Monday. In a post on X, he said he looked forward to working closely with the Brazilian president to deepen and expand the India-Brazil Strategic Partnership, advance the shared priorities of the Global South and promote a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable world.