Lula wins Brazil runoff against Flavio Bolsonaro with 51.75% of votes

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won another term in office, defeating right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in Sunday's runoff election.

Official results put Lula on 51.75 percent of the vote and Bolsonaro on 48.25 percent, according to figures reported by Vanguard. The result came after Bolsonaro led in the first round and in final opinion polls, which had shown the two men neck-and-neck.

Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday, will serve a fourth term. He was previously president from 2003 to 2010 and returned to office in 2022. He will be 85 when the new term ends in 2030.

A chaotic voting day

Voting was extended by two hours after a last-minute Supreme Court ruling. Lula's camp had asked for the extension, saying buses had been pulled from circulation in several cities and stopped people from reaching polling stations. Flavio Bolsonaro also asked for more time in some areas because of heavy rain, but his camp objected to the country-wide extension.

"Either we win. Or we win. Consider yourself warned," pro-Bolsonaro lawmaker Nikolas Ferreira wrote on X as votes were counted, according to Vanguard.

Reaction in the capital was mixed. A dentist in Brasilia, Aurelio Junior, called the extension "a disgrace", while a Rio de Janeiro business owner backing Lula, Jacqueline Maria Lima de Franca, said it was "more than fair" because everyone should have the right to vote.

What the win means

The campaign exposed deep divisions in a country of more than 200 million people. Almost half of voters backed Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest over an attempted coup after his 2022 election loss. Flavio Bolsonaro had promised to free his father as his first act if elected.

Lula campaigned on expanding social protections and presented himself as a guard against US interference. His supporters held rallies declaring "Never Again Bolsonaro", pointing to the former president's handling of the Covid pandemic and cuts to public programmes. Deforestation in the Amazon has fallen to its lowest level in four decades under Lula, though climate change barely featured in the campaign.

Lula's new term will not be easy. He faces a Congress dominated by the right, slower economic growth and public anger over the cost of living and insecurity. A Rio retiree, Tereza Cristina Ramos, said people "can barely afford to eat".

Lula's victory also halts a rightward swing across Latin America that has seen Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru shift right, with backing from US President Donald Trump.