Follow-Up: Lula Widens Brazil Runoff Lead to 51.09% Over Flávio Bolsonaro With Over 75% of Sections Counted
BRASILIA, Brazil — Vote counting in Brazil's presidential runoff entered its final stretch on Sunday, October 25. A snapshot of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) count at 8:48 p.m. Brasilia time, with 75.24% of polling sections processed, put incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead with 51.09% of valid votes against 48.91% for Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, a wider margin than at the halfway point of the count. The TSE has not formally declared a winner.
The lead had changed hands repeatedly during the evening: Lula led 51.16% to 48.84% with just over 5% counted, Flávio Bolsonaro moved ahead with 50.01% at 13.65%, Lula retook the lead at 50.01% with 47.62% counted, and by the three-quarter mark his advantage had grown to 2.18 percentage points. Andrei Roman, CEO of pollster AtlasIntel, told Reuters during the evening that the count pointed to Lula being re-elected — a pollster's assessment, not an official declaration by the electoral court.
Counting had earlier been paused for about two hours after Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ordered voting hours extended in parts of Bahia state, before resuming. In the first round, Flávio Bolsonaro finished first with 47.03% to Lula's 45.16%, with neither clearing a majority. Brazil has about 158.7 million registered voters. Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence over a coup plot after his 2022 defeat; Lula is seeking a fourth presidential term. Counting continues, and the final result will be the one published by the TSE.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于巴西利亚的巴西总统府高原宫（Palácio do Planalto）（资料照片）。Senado Federal 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布。/ The Palácio do Planalto presidential palace in Brasília, Brazil (file photo). Photo by Senado Federal, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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