Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a record fourth term as Brazil’s president, beating Flávio Bolsonaro in the run-off on Sunday 25 October and becoming the first candidate since Brazil’s return to democracy to win after losing the first round.
With 100% of votes counted, Lula took 51.79% to Bolsonaro’s 48.21%, about 4.4 million votes ahead, The Guardian reported. The Superior Electoral Court announced the final figures, according to BBC News.
Bolsonaro won the first round on Sunday 4 October, BBC News reported. No first-round runner-up had won the second round since the return of democracy in the 1980s, according to The Guardian.
Abstention fell from a record 21.08% in the first round to 19.21% in the run-off, The Guardian reported.
According to NPR, Lula described the result as a “defeat of denialism. A defeat of lies.”
“I want to thank the Brazilian people for this generosity they have shown me for so long, to thank the youth who took to the streets to defend democracy, and the elders who went to vote,” he said, NPR reported.
Bolsonaro Says He Will Not Concede
Bolsonaro, 45, a senator, initially said he would seek to annul the result, NPR and The Guardian reported.
Updated 30 October: Bolsonaro’s campaign ruled out a request to annul the election, Valor International reported on Tuesday 27 October. The campaign is expected instead to file an Electoral Judicial Investigation Action (Aije) to void Lula’s ticket for alleged abuse of economic power, the outlet reported.
He said it was “impossible to concede the election result”, according to The Guardian.
“I will not give up on my Brazil, and I hope you won’t give up either,” Bolsonaro said, NPR reported.
His father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after his 2022 loss to Lula, and is under house arrest, according to NPR.
The Voting Hours Dispute
Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting by two hours to 7pm, NPR reported. Both campaigns had asked for more time: Lula’s citing reduced bus services and Bolsonaro’s citing heavy rain.
Some polling stations had already switched off their voting machines and could not resume, according to NPR.
Lula’s Long Record
Lula turns 81 on Tuesday 27 October, The Guardian and NPR reported. He served as president from January 2003 to December 2010 and again from January 2023, and his new term is set to begin on 5 January 2027, according to BBC News. He will be 85 by the end of it.
Lula has also known defeat. He ran and lost in 1989, 1994 and 1998 before winning in 2002, The Guardian reported.
A Hostile Congress Awaits
Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party made the biggest gains in the election, and Lula faces the most right-wing Congress of Brazil’s democratic era, BBC News reported.
Bolsonaro had campaigned on closer ties with US President Donald Trump, NPR reported. Brazil is the only big South American country not led by a right-wing government, according to BBC News.
According to NPR, Lula said Brazil would not accept being “anyone’s backyard.”
Buzzline reported on Tuesday 6 October that Flávio Bolsonaro led Lula into the run-off, and on Monday 19 October that Lula now backed lowering Brazil’s age of criminal responsibility to 16.
More world coverage is in Buzzline’s International section.
Sources: The Guardian, “Lula wins historic fourth term as Brazilian president in defeat of far-right Flávio Bolsonaro”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/26/lula-wins-brazil-election); NPR, “Brazil’s left-wing President Lula elected for fourth term”, 25 October 2026 (https://www.npr.org/2026/10/25/nx-s1-6016299/brazil-lula-bolsonaro-election); BBC News, “Brazil elections: Lula secures fourth term after dramatic comeback”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmvg7p001qj9o); Valor International, “Flávio Bolsonaro says he will seek to void Lula’s election ticket”, 27 October 2026 (https://valorinternational.globo.com/politics/news/2026/10/27/flavio-bolsonaro-says-he-will-seek-to-void-lulas-election-ticket.ghtml)
Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/PR, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his official presidential portrait, taken in February 2023.
