Flavio Bolsonaro has refused to concede and vowed to seek annulment of the vote, accusing the Supreme Court of interference
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won reelection as Brazil’s president, defeating right-wing challenger Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro and an ally of US President Donald Trump.
Lula secured 51.79% of valid votes against Bolsonaro’s 48.21%, according to the completed count published by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), winning a historic fourth term by more than 4.4 million votes.
The victory means Latin America’s largest economy is set to maintain its prominent role in BRICS rather than shift closer to Washington under the Bolsonaro political dynasty. The defeated challenger had openly questioned Brazil’s membership in the bloc, accusing Lula of using it to antagonize the United States.
Addressing jubilant crowds in Sao Paulo, Lula thanked Brazilians for his reelection and singled out young people who had taken to the streets during the campaign.
“Today, my remarks are about gratitude,” he declared, pledging to give citizens a greater say in government decisions. “We are going to change the way this country is governed.”
However, Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat and vowed to seek the annulment of the election, accusing the Supreme Court of improperly interfering in the vote.
“Brazil cannot accept this dirty trick,” he declared, denouncing the last-minute decision to extend voting hours nationwide by two hours as “unacceptable” and equivalent to “changing the rules of the game while the game was being played.”
The controversial ruling by Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin, Lula’s former personal lawyer, followed complaints from the incumbent’s campaign that public transport disruptions had prevented voters from reaching polling stations.
However, Bolsonaro did not mention that his own campaign had also requested extended voting hours in several cities affected by severe weather.
The decision came shortly after the original 5pm deadline, when many polling stations had already closed and sealed their electronic voting machines. Senior judges have reportedly acknowledged procedural errors in handling the extension but ruled out annulling the election, according to Folha de S.Paulo.
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