Brazil election results 2026: Key takeaways from Lula’s historic win

Lula wins a fourth term after a dramatic runoff marked by voting confusion and allegations of interference.

A supporter of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrates the incumbent's win in Brasilia, Brazil, on October 25 [Diego Herculano/Reuters]

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pulled off a political comeback that no Brazilian presidential candidate has managed in nearly four decades.

On Sunday, the 80-year-old leftist president won a record fourth non-consecutive term, overcoming a first-round defeat to right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro.

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Lula won more than 51 percent of the vote to Bolsonaro’s 48 percent. Some 98.76 percent of the ballots were counted when electoral authorities declared him the winner.

Sunday’s results were far from certain, keeping Brazilians on edge until the very end. Bolsonaro and Lula had been virtually tied in the polls in the lead-up to the election.

A last-minute decision to extend voting hours sparked accusations of election interference and questions about whether the result could face legal challenges.

Already, Senator Bolsonaro has pledged to annul the vote, crediting the extended hours with sowing voter confusion.

Here are five key takeaways.

Lula makes history with an unprecedented re-election

Just three weeks ago, Lula looked like he was in trouble.

Bolsonaro had surprised many observers by beating the incumbent in the first round of voting on October 4, winning 47.03 percent of the vote to Lula’s 45.16 percent. The difference was 2.2 million votes.

But Lula spent the next three weeks trying to bring back voters who stayed home in the first round, while making a renewed pitch to those concerned about the cost of living and the future of his signature social programmes.

In the final days of the campaign, opinion polls showed the two candidates virtually tied.

Bolsonaro briefly took the lead as ballots were counted on Sunday evening. But Lula ultimately pulled ahead as results began arriving from the northeast, according to Reuters.

The northeast has long been a strong source of support for Lula and his Workers’ Party.

Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has large bases of support in the south and southeast of the country, as well as the centre-west.

For Lula, the victory means an unprecedented fourth term as president. For Bolsonaro, Sunday marks a defeat in his bid to return his family to the presidency.

No other candidate in modern Brazilian history has placed second in the first round of a presidential vote only to win in a run-off.

At age 80, Lula is also on track to beat his own record as the oldest Brazilian president to be sworn in since the country’s return to democracy.

Brazil’s last-minute voting extension sparked confusion

As Brazil’s presidential runoff entered its final hours on Sunday, both campaigns were calling for voting to be extended.

Lula’s campaign accused local officials of deliberately reducing public transport services in several cities, making it difficult for lower-income voters to reach polling stations.

Bolsonaro’s campaign, meanwhile, requested more time for voters in areas affected by heavy rain and flooding.

In Minas Gerais, the regional electoral court reported that 349 polling locations had lost electricity, although voting machines continued operating on backup batteries, according to local media.

Originally, voting was scheduled to end at 5pm Brasilia time (20:00 GMT).

But faced with the two campaigns’ petitions for an extension, Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ordered polling stations to remain open for another two hours, until 7pm (22:00 GMT).

The decision, however, came after some stations had already closed and shut down their electronic voting machines.

Zanin later clarified that polling stations that had already closed would remain shut. Only those that were still open could continue accepting voters until 7pm.

The result was confusion over who could still vote, with some Brazilians turned away despite the extension.

In a brief post-election address, Bolsonaro pointed to those issues as a reason to annul the vote. He also accused Zanin of judicial malfeasance.

“He changes the rules of the game mid-game,” Bolsonaro said.

Election interference allegations raise prospect of legal challenges

Brazil’s Federal Police are investigating alleged election-related transport disruptions in five states.

In Salvador, a court ordered the arrest of the city’s transport secretary over allegations that he directed cuts to bus services. Lula’s camp pointed to such incidents as evidence of election interference.

Bolsonaro, meanwhile, levelled similar allegations against Zanin, pointing to his history as Lula’s personal lawyer. Lula named Zanin to the Supreme Court in 2023.

“It is impossible to recognise the results of the election,” Bolsonaro told his supporters, calling the circumstances “unacceptable”.

He is likely to pursue a court challenge in an effort to overturn his defeat. Already, some figures on the global right have signalled their support.

Donald Trump Jr, the son of United States President Donald Trump, voiced outrage over the decision to extend the voting hours.

“If a conservative government in Brazil did this, everyone in the mainstream press in America would lose their minds, but I guess they’re just choosing to be silent because it’s all for the cause,” Trump Jr posted on social media.

The Trump administration has backed the Bolsonaro family, echoing its claims that Jair Bolsonaro, the former president, was subject to a political “witch hunt” in the courts.

Flavio Bolsonaro has called for reforming Brazil’s courts in the aftermath of his father’s legal troubles. Earlier this month, Bolsonaro said that, if he were elected, he would seek changes to Brazil’s Constitution, in a bid to “re-democratise” the country.

Al Jazeera correspondent Monica Yanakiew signalled that the tensions between Brazil’s right wing and its court system are likely to reemerge after Sunday’s election results.

“The judicial system itself is very divided,” Yanakiew said, pointing to rifts within the Supreme Court. “There will need to be a lot of political negotiation.”

Higher turnout may have helped Lula

Higher-than-expected turnout may have helped Lula win, according to Andrei Roman, the head of polling firm AtlasIntel, who cited a drop in voter abstention as one factor behind the president’s victory.

An estimated 33.4 million Brazilians stayed home during the October 4 first round, despite voting being compulsory for most adults. That amounted to about 21 percent of the electorate, the highest abstention rate in a general election since 1998.

The question now is how much of a difference those voters made. With more than 2.2 million votes separating the candidates in the first round, even a relatively small change in turnout could have mattered in the runoff.

The final turnout figures, particularly in each candidate’s strongholds, could help explain how Lula managed to turn the race around.

Lula also made last-ditch pitches in the final weeks of his campaign, designed to energise his working-class base. Among them was a promise to pursue free public transportation on weekends.

Lula’s victory complicates Trump’s ambitions in Latin America

Lula’s victory comes amid a wave of right-wing electoral wins across Latin America, where Trump has sought to expand Washington’s influence.

The Bolsonaro family has long enjoyed Trump’s support. Reuters reported on Saturday that officials in his State Department had pushed for sanctions against Brazil as part of an effort to weaken Lula and return the Bolsonaro family to power.

Asked on Sunday whom he wanted to win, Trump wouldn’t name a candidate.

“I don’t want to get into that, but we are watching,” he told reporters.

Though Trump has been vocal in his support for other right-wing candidates in Latin America, he was relatively circumspect with regards to the Brazilian election — something critics have speculated was intentional.

While Bolsonaro has promised closer ties with the US, Lula made defending Brazil’s sovereignty and resisting foreign interference a central theme of his campaign.

He has often pointed to Trump’s aggressive tariff campaign and his public statements about the Jair Bolsonaro trial as evidence of foreign interference. Lula’s campaign has also clashed with US-based social media companies, prompting Trump to accuse his government of censorship.

In his victory speech, Lula described having to “overcome interference coming from the outside” in his bid for a fourth term.

“The election was a defeat for denialism,” Lula said on Sunday night. “It was a defeat for lies.”

He finished his speech with praise for his “army” of supporters.

“I highly doubt that Russia, China, or the United States possess an army as victorious as the army of democracy in this country,” Lula said, thanking the voters.

在充满戏剧性的决选中，卢拉赢得第四个任期，但投票过程混乱不堪，并有干预指控。

10月25日，在巴西首都巴西利亚，一名巴西总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦的支持者庆祝他赢得大选。[迭戈·赫库拉诺/路透社]

路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦实现了近四十年来任何一位巴西总统候选人都未能实现的政治复出。

周日，这位 80 岁的左翼总统赢得了创纪录的第四个非连续任期，克服了在第一轮投票中败给右翼参议员弗拉维奥·博尔索纳罗（被监禁的前总统雅伊尔·博尔索纳罗之子）的劣势。

列表1/3：巴西总统卢拉和总统博索纳罗的竞选集会吸引数千人参加

特朗普暂停对牛肉征收关税引发美国牧场主愤怒（共3条，此为第2条）

列表 3/3：卢拉在巴西总统选举中获胜，力压极右翼势力

卢拉赢得了超过51%的选票，而博尔索纳罗的得票率为48%。选举当局宣布卢拉获胜时，已统计了约98.76%的选票。

周日的选举结果远未确定，令巴西民众紧张到最后一刻。在选举前的民调中，博索纳罗和卢拉的支持率几乎不相上下。

最后一刻决定延长投票时间引发了有关选举干预的指控，以及对选举结果是否会面临法律挑战的质疑。

参议员博索纳罗已经承诺要宣布投票无效，他认为延长投票时间造成了选民的混乱。

以下是五个关键要点。

卢拉史无前例地连任，创造历史

就在三周前，卢拉看起来好像遇到了麻烦。

博索纳罗在10月4日的第一轮投票中击败了现任总统卢拉，令许多观察家感到意外。博索纳罗获得了47.03%的选票，而卢拉获得了45.16%的选票。两人票数相差220万张。

但接下来的三周，卢拉努力争取在第一轮投票中弃权的选民，同时再次向那些关心生活成本和他标志性社会计划未来的人们发出呼吁。

竞选的最后几天，民意调查显示两位候选人的支持率几乎不相上下。

据路透社报道，周日晚间计票期间，博索纳罗一度领先。但随着东北部地区的计票结果陆续公布，卢拉最终反超。

东北地区长期以来一直是卢拉及其劳工党的强大支持来源。

与此同时，博索纳罗在该国南部和东南部以及中西部地区拥有广泛的支持基础。

对卢拉而言，这场胜利意味着他将史无前例地第四次当选总统。而对博索纳罗来说，周日的选举标志着他试图让家族重返总统宝座的努力以失败告终。

在巴西现代史上，还没有其他候选人在总统选举第一轮投票中排名第二，却在第二轮投票中获胜。

现年 80 岁的卢拉有望打破他自己保持的纪录，成为巴西恢复民主以来就职年龄最大的总统。

巴西最后一刻延长投票时间引发混乱

周日，巴西总统选举第二轮投票进入最后阶段，双方竞选团队都呼吁延长投票时间。

卢拉的竞选团队指责地方官员故意减少几个城市的公共交通服务，使低收入选民难以到达投票站。

与此同时，博索纳罗竞选团队要求给予受暴雨和洪水影响地区的选民更多时间投票。

据当地媒体报道，米纳斯吉拉斯州地区选举法院报告称，该州有 349 个投票站停电，但投票机依靠备用电池继续运行。

原定投票结束时间为巴西利亚时间下午 5 点（格林尼治标准时间 20:00）。

但面对双方竞选团队要求延长投票时间的请求，最高法院法官克里斯蒂亚诺·扎宁下令投票站再开放两个小时，直至晚上 7 点（格林尼治标准时间 22:00）。

然而，这一决定是在一些投票站已经关闭并停止使用电子投票机之后才做出的。

扎宁随后澄清说，已经关闭的投票站将继续关闭。只有那些仍然开放的投票站才能继续接受选民投票，直到晚上7点。

结果导致投票资格认定出现混乱，一些巴西人尽管投票期限延长，仍然被拒绝投票。

博索纳罗在选后发表的简短讲话中，指出这些问题是要求宣布选举无效的理由。他还指责扎宁司法渎职。

博索纳罗说：“他会在比赛中途改变比赛规则。”

选举干预指控引发了法律挑战的可能性

巴西联邦警察正在调查五个州涉嫌与选举有关的交通中断事件。

在萨尔瓦多，法院下令逮捕该市交通部长，指控他下令削减公交服务。卢拉阵营则将此类事件视为选举干预的证据。

与此同时，博索纳罗也对扎宁提出了类似的指控，并指出扎宁曾是卢拉的私人律师。卢拉于2023年任命扎宁为最高法院大法官。

博索纳罗告诉他的支持者：“我们不可能承认选举结果”，并称这种情况“令人无法接受”。

他很可能会提起诉讼，试图推翻败选结果。目前，一些全球右翼人士已经表示支持他。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的儿子小唐纳德·特朗普对延长投票时间的决定表示愤怒。

“如果巴西的保守派政府这样做，美国主流媒体肯定会群情激愤，但我猜他们只是选择保持沉默，因为这一切都是为了他们的事业，”小特朗普在社交媒体上发帖说。

特朗普政府一直支持博索纳罗家族，重申其关于前总统雅伊尔·博索纳罗在法庭上遭受政治“猎巫”的说法。

弗拉维奥·博索纳罗在其父遭遇法律纠纷后呼吁改革巴西法院系统。本月初，博索纳罗表示，如果他当选，他将寻求修改巴西宪法，以期“重新实现”巴西的民主化。

半岛电视台记者莫妮卡·亚纳基耶夫表示，巴西右翼与司法系统之间的紧张关系可能会在周日的选举结果公布后再次出现。

“司法系统本身就存在严重分歧，”亚纳基耶夫指出最高法院内部的裂痕，“需要进行大量的政治谈判。”

更高的投票率可能对卢拉有利。

据民调公司 AtlasIntel 的负责人安德烈·罗曼 (Andrei Roman) 称，高于预期的投票率可能帮助卢拉赢得了选举，他还指出，弃权率下降是总统获胜的因素之一。

据估计，尽管大多数成年人有投票义务，但在10月4日的第一轮投票中，仍有3340万巴西人选择待在家中。这相当于选民总数的约21%，是自1998年以来大选中最高的弃权率。

现在的问题是，这些选民的投票究竟产生了多大的影响。首轮投票中，候选人之间的票数差距超过220万张，因此，即使投票率出现相对较小的变化，也可能对决胜轮的选举结果产生重大影响。

最终的投票率，尤其是在每位候选人的传统票仓，或许能够解释卢拉是如何扭转选情的。

在竞选的最后几周，卢拉也做出了最后的努力，旨在激发其工人阶级支持者的热情。其中包括承诺在周末推行免费公共交通。

卢拉的胜利使特朗普在拉丁美洲的野心变得更加复杂。

卢拉的胜利正值拉丁美洲右翼势力在选举中取得一系列胜利之际，特朗普一直试图扩大华盛顿在该地区的影响。

博索纳罗家族长期以来一直得到特朗普的支持。路透社周六报道称，特朗普国务院官员曾力主对巴西实施制裁，以此削弱卢拉的势力，帮助博索纳罗家族重掌政权。

周日，当被问及他希望哪位候选人获胜时，特朗普拒绝透露具体人选。

“我不想谈论这件事，但我们正在关注，”他告诉记者。

尽管特朗普一直公开支持拉丁美洲其他右翼候选人，但他对巴西大选却相对谨慎——批评人士猜测这是有意为之。

虽然博索纳罗承诺与美国建立更紧密的关系，但卢拉将捍卫巴西主权和抵制外国干涉作为其竞选的核心主题。

他经常将特朗普咄咄逼人的关税政策以及他对博索纳罗审判的公开言论视为外国干预的证据。卢拉的竞选活动也与美国社交媒体公司发生冲突，这促使特朗普指责美国政府进行审查。

卢拉在胜选演讲中表示，他在竞选第四个任期时不得不“克服来自外部的干扰”。

卢拉周日晚间表示：“这次选举是否认主义的失败，是谎言的失败。”

他在演讲结束时赞扬了他的“支持者大军”。

卢拉感谢选民时说：“我非常怀疑俄罗斯、中国或美国是否拥有像我国民主军队那样强大的军队。”