Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a fourth term after beating right-wing rival Flávio Bolsonaro in a tight presidential runoff on Sunday.
Lula, who is 80, took just under 52% of the vote.
Brazil requires a winner to get more than half of the valid votes, so a runoff is held when no candidate does so in the first round.
Bolsonaro led the first round, but Lula overturned that lead in the second.
The result was a surprise, and it goes against a wider shift towards right-wing leaders in Latin America.
The vote took place on Sunday, October 25.
Lula spoke to cheering supporters in São Paulo.
He thanked voters for what he described as their defence of Brazilian democracy.
Brazil is Latin America’s largest country, with the region’s biggest economy.
Lula is a former union leader who founded the Workers’ Party.
He first became president in 2003.
Bolsonaro Rejects The Result
However, Flávio Bolsonaro did not accept defeat.
He described the runoff result as “inexplicable”.
He also called for the election to be annulled.
Bolsonaro is a senator and the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
His challenge follows a first round in which he finished ahead.
However, he failed to keep that lead in the decisive vote.
Election disputes in Brazil go to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
The court organises elections and rules on challenges to results.
Reports did not say whether Bolsonaro had filed a formal challenge.
The runoff followed a bitter campaign between the two men.
The result is also a significant defeat for the Bolsonaro political movement.
The movement had sought to return to power through the former president’s son.
The elder Bolsonaro is serving a prison sentence under house arrest.
He was punished for plotting a coup after losing the previous presidential election.
Brazil’s Supreme Court convicted him in September 2025.
In January 2023, his supporters stormed government buildings in Brasília.
Lula was the man who beat him in that 2022 vote.
That runoff was also narrow, with Lula winning by a small margin.
Flávio Bolsonaro entered the race carrying his father’s name.
The family’s fortunes now rest on a son who has lost a close contest.
Lula’s Long Political Career
Lula was born in 1945 in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco.
He rose to prominence as a metalworkers’ union leader in the 1970s.
The Workers’ Party he founded is known in Brazil as the PT.
He lost three presidential races before he won in 2002.
Brazilian presidents serve four-year terms, and Lula served two terms from 2003 to 2010.
He later faced corruption convictions that led to a jail term in 2018.
The Supreme Court later annulled those convictions.
He returned to the presidency in 2023.
His fourth term extends a political career that has lasted for decades.
It comes at a time when several countries in Latin America have turned to right-wing governments.
Meanwhile, Lula’s win will keep him in office well into his eighties.
Well if he is fit and does right by the people, and the votes are genuinely counted and not adulterated, then good luck to them and everyone around them.