Elections · Published
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s presidential runoff on Sunday 25 October 2026, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party. Reuters, citing Brazil’s electoral court, the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE), reported on Monday 26 October that Lula had won on Sunday. Polling ran from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Brasília time, and the TSE began publishing results at 5 p.m.
According to the TSE count reported by the Rio Times, 100 per cent of polling stations had been counted by 11:22 p.m. Brasília time on Sunday. Lula received 64,256,232 votes, or 51.79 per cent, against 59,826,041 votes, or 48.21 per cent, for Bolsonaro. Turnout was 80.78 per cent. Reuters puts the margin at more than four million votes.
Flávio Bolsonaro, the candidate of the Liberal Party (PL), is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Reuters says his defeat was more than twice his father’s losing margin. With turnout at 80.78 per cent, nearly four in five eligible voters cast ballots, and about 19 per cent abstained.
Bolsonaro has not conceded. Reuters reports that he refused to accept defeat and said he would seek to annul the result. He cited a Sunday ruling by a Supreme Court justice that extended voting by two hours. The Rio Times says the courts have so far accepted none of his arguments.
The annulment argument rests on the two-hour extension of voting, which a Supreme Court justice ordered on the day of the vote. Reuters presents that ruling as the basis for the challenge. The sources reviewed do not show any court accepting the argument.
The Rio Times notes that the TSE’s formal declaration of the winner had not been published when its live page was last updated. Reuters reports the electoral court’s announcement of Lula’s win but does not say whether the result has been formally certified.
Why it matters: the outcome decides who governs Latin America’s largest economy for the next four years, and the dispute over the count is now the central political question. The Rio Times also reports that Washington has not said whether it accepts the result, which could shape diplomatic relations with the new government.
Several things remain unknown. These include when the TSE will issue its formal declaration, whether the annulment request will reach the courts and how a court would rule, and how Bolsonaro’s camp will respond. The sources reviewed do not give a regional breakdown of the count.
This report uses the figures the TSE had published when the Rio Times page was last updated, as relayed by that outlet, alongside the Reuters account of the electoral court’s announcement. The totals may change as the formal certification proceeds, so readers should treat them as the count available at publication.
Sources
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