Follow-Up: Brazil Runoff Count Resumes: Lula Leads Flávio Bolsonaro 51.16% to 48.84% With Over 5% Counted
BRASÍLIA, Brazil — Vote counting in Brazil's presidential runoff resumed on Sunday evening after a two-hour pause ordered following a Supreme Court ruling, and with just over 5% of tallies reported, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was leading right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro with around 51.16% versus 48.84%, according to Reuters. The race remained close and no winner had been determined.
Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after his 2022 defeat. A victory for Bolsonaro would extend a wave of right-wing victories for Latin American candidates friendly to U.S. President Donald Trump, while a fourth mandate for Lula would be a bulwark against Washington's influence in the region, as his government has pushed back on U.S. trade and security policies, Reuters reported.
The count had been paused after Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin accepted a request by Lula's campaign to extend voting, pointing to public transportation issues in three cities in the state of Bahia. The decision landed around the 5 p.m. Brasília time cutoff; stations that had already closed began tallying, while stations that had not closed could keep receiving voters for an additional two hours, and the electoral court, or TSE, paused the count for two hours. Earlier on Sunday, a court in Bahia ordered the arrest of a top transportation official in the city of Salvador over allegations that he directed a reduction in the city's bus fleet. In comments before the ruling, Lula said "something abominable is happening" in this election. Flávio Bolsonaro had also asked for voting to be extended in at least three states, citing bad weather.
Two legal experts told Reuters the extension and the transportation allegations could draw legal challenges. "Depending on the election result, there is a possibility that the losing side might attempt to contest the outcome, arguing that many people were unable to vote even with the extended deadline," said Vera Chemim, a constitutional lawyer in São Paulo. The senator's brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, speaking on a live stream on his YouTube channel, questioned why the Supreme Court had ruled in a process overseen by the federal electoral court: "Strange, isn't it? It's hard to imagine what the legal basis for this could possibly be. It doesn't inspire credibility."
Washington is also watching. Reuters on Saturday revealed a campaign within Trump's State Department to help get the Bolsonaros back in power. Trump has so far declined to endorse a candidate; asked on Sunday who he hoped would win, he told reporters in Washington: "I don't want to get into that, but we are watching." Counting continues, and GSM will follow up as the TSE releases fuller results.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：巴西总统决选候选人、参议员 Flávio Bolsonaro 在国会发言（资料照片，2026年5月）。Andressa Anholete／Agência Senado 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布。/ Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, candidate in Brazil's presidential runoff, speaking in Congress (file photo, May 2026). Photo by Andressa Anholete/Agência Senado, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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