International

Lula wins Brazil runoff with 51.79 percent

The leftist president defeated right-wing candidate Bolsonaro in a tight race, though Bolsonaro refuses to accept the election result.

25 October 2026Tagblick Newsdesk

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Archive photo: Lula wins Brazil runoff with 51.79 percent — Archive photoPhoto: Palácio do Planalto from Brasilia, Brasil · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Lula won Brazil's presidential runoff with 51.79 percent of the vote, according to the official count. The election came just three days after polls showed the race in a dead heat, with the incumbent president and opposition candidate both at 50 percent in the latest surveys from the Datafolha institute. For the first time, pollsters said, the incumbent had shown a rising trend in the days immediately before the vote.

A total of 158.7 million Brazilian voters took part in the runoff. Polling stations were open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Brasília time, and counting began immediately after the polls closed.

In the days before the runoff, the two candidates faced off in a televised debate broadcast by Globo TV. During the confrontation, the candidate's son reportedly hurled insults at his rival regarding a physical disability, to which the opponent responded by saying he had lost a finger while working in a factory.

Bolsonaro, the right-wing candidate, has refused to accept the election outcome and has called for the runoff to be annulled.

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