Lula wins runoff with 64 million votes

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva secured his fourth term with 64 million votes, defeating Senator Flavio Bolsonaro by a margin of nearly 4 percent. The incumbent is scheduled to take office on January 5, 2027.

Bolsonaro requested an annulment of the election on Sunday, citing a chaotic extension of voting hours. Both candidates had asked for the extension, but the legal path for the challenge remains unclear. Bolsonaro visited his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt, on Monday.

The vote saw a surge of 14.1 million additional voters in the second round. Analysts estimate that three-quarters of those new votes went to Lula. This shift reversed the first-round results, where Lula trailed. The first round set a record for abstentions, while the second round recorded the lowest number of abstentions in history.

Lawmaker André Janones managed Lula’s digital campaign in the runoff. He created a WhatsApp channel called Lula's Army, which gathered nearly 11 million people. The group mobilized supporters to campaign via social media. Janones adopted an aggressive style of messaging to target previously uncommitted voters.

Professor Oliver Stuenkel of Fundação Getulio Vargas said the first-round defeat forced the campaign to change its strategy. He noted that the earlier strategy lacked focus and suffered from internal conflict. The new approach effectively engaged voters who had not participated before.

President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that the election was rigged. He told reporters in Washington that the tabulation looked very bad to him. Trump made the claim without providing evidence before flying to Mississippi for a rally. He described the result as another rigged election.

Kassio Nunes, president of Brazil’s electoral authority, recognized Lula’s victory on Sunday. Nunes was appointed to the Supreme Court by Jair Bolsonaro. Brian Winter, editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, stated that Brazilian power brokers are closing ranks behind Lula. He suggested that leaders do not want a truly contested election to proceed.

The Supreme Court justice who ordered the vote extension did so minutes before polls were set to close at 5 p.m. Many polling stations did not receive the news until they were wrapping up. Lula requested the extension due to public transportation issues in Sao Paulo and Salvador. Bolsonaro requested it because of heavy rains in the south. The decision disrupted the usually swift counting process in Brazil's electronic voting system.