Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Defeats Flavio Bolsonaro to Secure Historic Fourth Term

Key facts

• Brazil's incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a historic fourth term on Sunday, defeating Senator Flavio Bolsonaro with 51.75% of the vote against 48.25%, with over 98.76% of votes counted, as confirmed by Brazil's electoral court.
• This is the first time since Brazil's military dictatorship ended in 1985 that a candidate trailing in the first round has come back to win the runoff; Lula trailed by 2.2 million votes after the October 4 first round.
• Lula's fourth term begins on January 5, 2027.
• During the runoff, Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting nationwide by two hours, till 7pm local time, after Lula's campaign cited transport issues preventing voters from reaching polling stations, pausing the ongoing counting.
• The 80-year-old Lula first won the presidency in 2002 and was reelected in 2006 and in 2022 for his third term after a hiatus that included 580 days in prison.