Lula Wins Record Fourth Term After Dramatic Run-Off Comeback Against Flavio Bolsonaro

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won a record fourth non-consecutive term as Brazil's president, completing a comeback that no presidential candidate in the country has managed in almost four decades. The 80-year-old leftist defeated right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro, in Sunday's run-off.

Lula took more than 51 percent of the vote to Bolsonaro's 48 percent. Electoral authorities declared him the winner when about 98.76 percent of ballots had been counted. Polls had shown the two men virtually tied in the closing days, and the outcome stayed uncertain until the end.

Only three weeks earlier, Lula appeared to be in trouble. On October 4, Bolsonaro won the first round with 47.03 percent against Lula's 45.16 percent, a gap of 2.2 million votes. Lula then worked to win back voters who stayed home, while pressing his case on the cost of living and the future of his flagship social programmes. Bolsonaro briefly led as counting began on Sunday evening, but Lula pulled ahead as results came in from the northeast, a longtime stronghold for him and his Workers' Party. Bolsonaro's strength lies in the south, southeast and centre-west. No other candidate in modern Brazilian history has finished second in a first round and then won the run-off.

The result is now clouded by a late decision to extend voting. Both campaigns had asked for more time. Lula's team accused local officials of deliberately cutting public transport in several cities, making it harder for lower-income voters to reach polling stations. Bolsonaro's campaign cited heavy rain and flooding. In Minas Gerais, the regional electoral court said 349 polling locations lost electricity, though voting machines kept working on backup batteries, according to local media.

Voting was due to end at 5pm Brasilia time. Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ordered stations to stay open until 7pm, but the order arrived after some had already closed and shut down their machines. Zanin later clarified that closed stations would stay closed. The result was confusion, and some Brazilians were turned away despite the extension.

Bolsonaro has pledged to annul the vote and accused Zanin of judicial malfeasance. "He changes the rules of the game mid-game," he said. He also pointed to Zanin's past as Lula's personal lawyer; Lula appointed him to the Supreme Court in 2023. "It is impossible to recognise the results of the election," Bolsonaro told supporters. Brazil's Federal Police are investigating alleged transport disruptions in five states, and a court in Salvador ordered the arrest of the city's transport secretary over claims he directed bus service cuts. Donald Trump Jr, son of the US president, criticised the extension on social media. Al Jazeera correspondent Monica Yanakiew said the judicial system is "very divided" and that "there will need to be a lot of political negotiation."

Turnout may have played a role. Andrei Roman, head of polling firm AtlasIntel, cited a drop in abstention as one factor in Lula's win. In the first round, an estimated 33.4 million Brazilians, about 21 percent of the electorate, stayed home, the highest abstention rate in a general election since 1998. Lula also made late pitches to his working-class base, including a promise to pursue free public transport on weekends.

The outcome also complicates US President Donald Trump's ambitions in Latin America, where right-wing candidates have recently won elections. Reuters reported on Saturday that State Department officials had pushed for sanctions against Brazil to weaken Lula and return the Bolsonaro family to power. Asked on Sunday whom he wanted to win, Trump said: "I don't want to get into that, but we are watching."

Lula built his campaign around defending Brazilian sovereignty, citing Trump's tariffs and remarks on Jair Bolsonaro's trial as foreign interference. In his victory speech he said he had to "overcome interference coming from the outside." "The election was a defeat for denialism," he said. "It was a defeat for lies."