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Lula wins a fourth term after historic second-round turnaround

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Lula wins a fourth term after historic second-round turnaround

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won re-election as Brazil’s president, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro in a close second round on Sunday, Oct. 25. With all polling sections counted, Lula received 51.79% of valid votes, or 64,256,232 ballots, while Bolsonaro took 48.21%, or 59,826,041.

The result gives Lula, the Workers’ Party (PT) leader, a fourth presidential term and marks the first time in Brazil’s history that a candidate has overturned a first-round deficit to win the runoff. Bolsonaro, a senator and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, had led the first round on Oct. 4.

In that opening vote, Bolsonaro received 56,104,503 votes, or 47.03%, compared with Lula’s 53,879,538, or 45.16%. The runoff reversed a 2.2 million-vote lead for Bolsonaro into a 4.4 million-vote advantage for Lula. Lula added more than 10.3 million votes between rounds; Bolsonaro added about 3.7 million.

The shift was visible across the country. Lula increased his share of valid votes in all 26 states and the Federal District. Minas Gerais was the only state where the leading candidate changed: Bolsonaro had won there in the first round, but Lula took the lead in the runoff. Lula also strengthened his advantage in the Northeast and narrowed gaps in major southeastern voting centers.

The contest remained uncertain into election day, and the final result followed a campaign in which Bolsonaro had held the first-round lead. Lula’s victory therefore came not from simply preserving his earlier base, but from attracting enough additional support across the country to change the outcome.

His next challenge is governing with a Congress where the right has strengthened its position. Lula’s allies have acknowledged that during his third term he did not share major decisions enough with centrist parties that helped elect him. Those parties, and the broader Frente Ampla, are likely to matter as he tries to build support for his agenda.

In his victory speech, Lula said he would govern for everyone and invite business leaders, women and young people to help decide the direction of his final term. How that promise will translate into decisions and congressional support remains to be seen, but the election has left him with a clear mandate and a demanding coalition to assemble.

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