Lula Re-Elected in Narrow, Contested Runoff

Overview

• On Sunday, October 25, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva overcame a first-round deficit to win the presidential runoff with about 51.79% of valid votes to Flávio Bolsonaro’s 48.21%.
• STF minister Cristiano Zanin ordered voting extended to 19:00 in places where transport or heavy rains kept polls open, and the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral paused nationwide totalization when the ruling arrived while many sections were still open.
• Flávio Bolsonaro publicly rejected the official result and said his campaign will ask courts to annul the election, focusing its complaints on the scope and timing of the voting-extension decision.
• Analysts attribute Lula’s turnaround to a fall in abstention to roughly 19.2% and regional swings in key states such as São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Bahia that together added about 10.4 million votes for the incumbent between rounds.
• The TSE has effectively certified Lula’s victory and he is due to be inaugurated on January 5, 2027, but a more conservative Congress and pending legal challenges over the runoff’s administration create political and legal uncertainty for his new term.