As of 5:30 PM IST, Monday 26 October 2026. Vote figures are the totals published by Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) when the count finished at 23:26 Brasília time on Sunday 25 October (about 7:56 AM IST on Monday), as reported by The Guardian, the BBC and g1. The TSE treats totals as subject to change until winners are formally certified.
Brazil's president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won Sunday's presidential runoff, beating right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro by about 4.4 million votes. Lula had lost the first round on 4 October, and The Guardian noted that no first-round runner-up had gone on to win the runoff since Brazil returned to democracy in 1985. Bolsonaro has refused to accept the result and says he will seek to have the election annulled.
The final count
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share of valid votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | Workers' Party (PT) | 64,256,232 | 51.79% |
| Flávio Bolsonaro | Liberal Party (PL) | 59,826,041 | 48.21% |
With 100% of polling sections counted, The Guardian's results page and the BBC both reported the 51.79% to 48.21% split. The TSE president, Kassio Nunes Marques, said more than 158 million Brazilians were eligible to vote and more than 128 million turned out. He put abstention at 19.21%, lower than the 21.08% in the first round, the Chamber of Deputies' news agency reported.
Bolsonaro rejects the result
Bolsonaro's challenge centres on a decision by Supreme Court (STF) justice Cristiano Zanin to extend voting by two hours, until 7 PM, at polling stations that were still open at 5 PM. According to the Chamber of Deputies' news agency, Lula's campaign asked for the extension after reports of problems with free public transport for voters. Bolsonaro called the move a change to "the rules of the game in the middle of the game" and said his lawyers would "ask for the annulment of these elections", g1 reported.
g1 also noted that Bolsonaro's own campaign had asked the TSE on Sunday afternoon to extend voting in towns in Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, São Paulo and Santa Catarina affected by heavy rain.
The TSE responded on Sunday night. It said Bolsonaro's claim that PL observers had been removed from the court's secure server room was false. The court said the room is never open to visitors, that two PL observers followed the vote tally from the designated monitoring areas, and that it has video records of their presence.
What officials said
- TSE president Kassio Nunes Marques, who was appointed by Jair Bolsonaro, said he had "absolute confidence in the entire electoral process". He added that the late extension forced the court to hold back polling-station reports temporarily but did not compromise the count.
- Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet also recognised the process, g1 reported.
- Senate president Davi Alcolumbre said there was "nothing to contest" and that "victory, first of all, belonged to democracy".
Folha de S.Paulo reported early on Monday that Nunes Marques is expected to uphold the declared result and reject challenges, and that he plans to coordinate his approach with Supreme Court president Edson Fachin. No formal annulment petition or ruling had been reported at the time of writing.
A hard road for a fourth term
Lula's new term begins on 5 January 2027, the BBC reported. He served as president from 2003 to 2010 and returned in 2023. According to The Guardian, he turns 81 on Tuesday.
The BBC said Lula faces "the most challenging political landscape since first taking office in 2003". Bolsonaro's Liberal Party made the biggest gains in the congressional vote, leaving Lula to govern with what the BBC called the most right-wing Congress of Brazil's democratic era. Lula's win also runs against a regional trend: Argentina, Chile and Colombia now have conservative leaders.
Abroad, the BBC said relations with the Trump administration are likely to remain strained. Washington would have preferred a conservative government and wants to reduce China's influence in the region. Environmental groups welcomed the result because they had feared weaker Amazon protections under Bolsonaro.
International reaction
European leaders welcomed the result. "Democracy and multilateralism have won in Brazil," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said, according to Euronews. Thousands of Lula supporters celebrated in the streets of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo overnight.
Who is Flávio Bolsonaro?
Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, is a lawyer and former senator from Rio de Janeiro and the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. The Guardian notes that the elder Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a failed coup after losing the 2022 election to Lula. Flávio led the first round, including in the bellwether state of Minas Gerais.
What happens next
- Bolsonaro's legal team is expected to file its annulment request with the electoral courts.
- The TSE labels its totals as subject to change until the winners are formally certified (diplomação), due by 18 December 2026, according to the Global Election Index's copy of the TSE results file.
- Lula takes office for his fourth term on 5 January 2027.
Related reading on HorizonDesk
- Brazil's runoff: Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula neck and neck in the final poll
- Serbia election results: Vučić concedes as the Student List heads for a majority
- Bulgaria's presidential election heads for a runoff
Sources
- The Guardian: Brazil election 2026, full second-round results (25–26 Oct 2026)
- BBC News: Lula faces hostile Congress and divided country after Brazil election win (26 Oct 2026)
- g1: TSE denies Flávio Bolsonaro's claim about observers (in Portuguese, 26 Oct 2026)
- Agência Câmara: TSE president says voting extension required extraordinary measures (in Portuguese, 25 Oct 2026)
- Folha de S.Paulo: Kassio expected to dismiss challenges to the result (in Portuguese, 26 Oct 2026)
- Global Election Index: Brazil runoff 2026, final TSE count (26 Oct 2026)
- Euronews: news archive for 26 October 2026, including European reaction to Lula's victory
