Brazil’s presidential election is heading for a second-round runoff after preliminary results showed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro ahead of incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s closely watched vote.
With no candidate securing more than 50 per cent of valid votes required for an outright victory, Brazilians are set to return to the polls on October 25 to decide who will lead Latin America’s largest economy.
Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, entered the race as a leading conservative figure aligned with United States President Donald Trump. His father is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence following a coup attempt conviction.
Lula, 80, is seeking another term after previously serving as president and has campaigned on his administration’s economic and foreign policy record, including closer ties with China.
The election comes amid a broader political shift across parts of Latin America, where several conservative leaders and candidates aligned with Trump’s policies have made gains in recent elections.
In addition to choosing a president, nearly 159 million eligible Brazilian voters also elected governors in the country’s 27 states, members of state legislatures, all 513 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 54 senators.
Polling stations closed at 5 p.m. local time, after which vote counting began. Electoral authorities started releasing preliminary results shortly after voting ended.
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Lula expressed optimism after casting his ballot, saying he remained confident of victory while pledging to intensify his administration’s efforts if returned to office.
“If reelected, we need to do double of what we have done,” the president told journalists.
Despite maintaining a loyal support base that credits his social welfare programmes with improving millions of lives, Lula entered the election facing declining approval ratings, rising cost-of-living pressures, and the fallout from a corruption scandal involving a senior judicial figure linked to the investigation of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
The incumbent has also repeatedly criticised what he described as pressure from Washington, accusing the Trump administration of interfering in Brazil’s domestic affairs after imposing tariffs on Brazilian exports, revoking the visa of Brazil’s ambassador and sanctioning a Supreme Court justice involved in the investigation that led to Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction.
The October 25 runoff is expected to determine whether Brazil continues under Lula’s left-leaning leadership or shifts to a conservative administration under Flávio Bolsonaro.
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