Brazil Runoff Final Result: Lula Wins Fourth Term With 51.79% as Bolsonaro's Son Rejects Outcome
Brazil's presidential runoff was held on Sunday, October 25, and the count is now complete. Final figures from the Superior Electoral Court show incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won 64,256,232 votes, or 51.79% of valid ballots, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the former president, who took 59,826,041 votes (48.21%). The margin is about 4.43 million votes, and the victory gives Lula a fourth term as president. Lula is 80 years old — he turns 81 on October 27 — and becomes the first candidate since direct elections resumed in 1989 to win the presidency after finishing second in the first round.
Abstention fell to about 19.2%, down from 21.08% in the first round. Bad weather and transport problems disrupted voting, and a Supreme Court justice ordered polling extended by two hours. Flávio Bolsonaro refused to recognize the outcome: "It is impossible to recognize the election result… We will take legal action. We will ask for this election to be annulled."
In his victory speech, Lula said: "People went to vote because we convinced them it was important to preserve democracy… This country doesn't accept being anybody's colony." He pledged: "We are going to change the way we govern this country… give the people a greater role in our decisions." With the runoff decided, the president's camp will prepare to form the next government, while the Bolsonaro camp's promised legal challenge is expected to keep the dispute alive.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 卢拉于2026年10月18日出席Band电视台总统候选人辩论。巴西总统府官方照片，Ricardo Stuckert/PR 摄，经 Wikimedia Commons。Lula at the Band presidential debate on October 18, 2026. Official photo by Ricardo Stuckert/PR, via Wikimedia Commons.
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