Brazil’s Lula wins reelection with victory over Trump ally Bolsonaro, who rejects result

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was reelected to a historic fourth term Sunday, but his defeated rival and Trump ally Senator Flávio Bolsonaro said he would not accept the results and would mount a legal challenge.

The 80-year-old leftist leader won more than 51 percent of votes, securing a runoff victory that bucks a broader rightward political shift across Latin America and comes after a campaign dominated by concerns over the cost of living, crime and corruption.

Bolsonaro, who trailed Lula by about 4.4 million votes, said his team would challenge the result after the Supreme Court’s last-minute ruling to extend voting by two hours.

“It is impossible to recognize the election result given how these events unfolded,” Bolsonaro told supporters in the capital Brasilia after Lula’s victory was declared.

“We will take legal action. We will ask for this election to be annulled.”

The vote marks the first time since the return of direct presidential elections in 1989 that a candidate has won the presidency after finishing second in the first round.

“I can assure you that we are going to change the way we govern this country. We are going to give the people a greater role in our decisions,” Lula said after his reelection.

Lula thanked the Brazilian people for their “generosity,” especially the country’s youth who “took to the streets to defend democracy.”

In Rio de Janeiro, Lula’s supporters were seen hugging, beeping their car horns and raising the “L” sign. And in Belo Horizonte, capital of the key swing state Minas Gerais, supporters could be seen chanting and singing following Lula’s victory.

Lula’s win is a major setback for the Bolsonaro political movement, with Flávio failing to accomplish what his father, imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, also couldn’t to do in 2022: defeat Lula at the ballot box.

But the results came after a turbulent election day, with voting being extended by two hours following last-minute pleas from both candidates to electoral authorities.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin granted a request from Lula’s campaign, which asked for an extension citing “incidents” affecting buses that provide transportation to polling venues in several states.

Bolsonaro’s campaign had also requested an extension in some areas, citing difficulties voters faced reaching polling stations because of heavy rain. The extension order came around 5 p.m. in Brasilia, just as polls were scheduled to be closing, and many stations had already shut down.

It is unclear how successful Bolsonaro’s challenge of the results will be.

Paulo Sotero, of the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center, told CNN that the voting extension “was not an irregularity.”

“It was authorized by the Supreme Court of Brazil because there were some localized problems,” Sotero said, adding that Bolsonaro’s “chances of winning a recount or having a new election are very very slim.”

“The Senator has very little space to contest the elections. I think this is a done deal,” he said.

The election outcome will have repercussions beyond Brazil, keeping Latin America’s largest country on a more independent foreign-policy path under Lula, who has emphasized Brazil’s sovereignty and closer ties with the Global South and China amid tensions with the US administration.

Before polls closed on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said that he was “monitoring” Brazil’s presidential runoff. Although he declined to endorse either candidate, he previously praised Flávio’s first-round performance and described the election as “very important.”

Here’s what to know about Sunday’s high-stakes election:

People queue to cast their votes during the presidential runoff election, in Salvador, Brazil, October 25, 2026.

Rafael Martins/Reuters

A first-round upset for Lula

According to Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court, Bolsonaro secured 2.2 million votes more than Lula in the first round of voting. Neither candidate reached the majority needed to win outright, forcing both campaigns to compete for a shrinking pool of undecided voters while trying to mobilize their supporters in a country deeply divided over its political future.

The result exposed vulnerabilities in Lula’s reelection bid, from frustration over the cost of living and crime to difficulties mobilizing parts of his traditional base. It also showed that Jair Bolsonaro’s movement remained strong, even as the former president served a prison sentence for attempting to overturn his 2022 defeat.

The shift in the first round of the election reflected a broader electoral trend across Latin America, where several presidential elections since April 2025 — in Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru — have resulted in victories for right-wing or center-right candidates.

A July Datafolha survey found 44 percent of Brazilians leaning right or center-right in their political values, compared with 39 percent on the left or center-left, reversing the balance measured in 2022.

Despite this, leftist Lula prevailed in the second round.

Crime, the economy and last-minute shifts

Public safety emerged as one of the defining issues of the election. A September Quaest/Pax survey found that 28 percent of Brazilians saw violence as the country’s biggest problem, followed by corruption at 22 percent and the economy at 19 percent.

Bolsonaro promised to designate major criminal factions as terrorist groups, expand prisons and lower the age of criminal responsibility. “Those who think I’m radical on public security haven’t seen anything yet,” he said October 13, adding that even El Salvador’s infamous hardline approach under President Nayib Bukele was not enough.

Lula struggled to reconcile his party’s traditional positions with demands for tougher action. A widely circulated clip of him saying last year that drug traffickers were also victims of drug users reinforced what Brian Winter, editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, called a “longstanding perception that the Brazilian left is soft on crime.” Lula later acknowledged that he had expressed himself poorly.

Women walk as army soldiers provide security at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the presidential election on October 4.

Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images

Lula faced criticism about the state of the economy and affordability. During his first two terms, a commodities boom helped lift millions of Brazilians out of poverty and into the middle class.

This time, many voters had said they felt little progress. Lula can point to low unemployment and easing inflation, but those indicators had not changed perceptions for households struggling with everyday prices.

Winter compared the dynamic to the 2024 US presidential election, when favorable statistics failed to overcome frustration with prices under President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Lawmakers celebrate after voting in favor of a constitutional amendment to reduce Brazil’s workweek from six days to five days, during a session of the Brazilian Federal Senate, in Brasilia, Brazil, October 14.

Adriano Machado/Reuters

Still, many voters have remained loyal to Lula because of the social gains made during his first two terms, while fearing that a Bolsonaro presidency could roll back social rights. Flávio sought to counter those concerns by distancing himself from some traditionally conservative positions.

Part of the shift to the right in Brazil is due to the association of the left with corruption, although scandals have shadowed both campaigns. During last Sunday’s debate, Lula challenged Bolsonaro to open his financial records and pressed him over his ties to Daniel Vorcaro, the former head of the collapsed Banco Master, whose alleged connections to powerful figures have embroiled Brazil’s political and judicial establishment, including the Supreme Court. Flávio, meanwhile, accused Lula of corruption and raised allegations involving the president’s eldest son, known as Lulinha. Lula’s previous corruption convictions were annulled in 2021.

The corruption allegations are deepening political fatigue in Brazil, say experts. “It reinforces the disgust and apathy that Brazilians feel with their political system as a whole,” Winter told CNN.

Women and religion: two crucial divides

But if there was one key group the candidates needed to win over, both experts and campaigns agreed it was women.

Women account for nearly 53 percent of registered voters and had been more resistant to Bolsonaro-aligned candidates than men. An Oct. 15 Datafolha survey put Lula ahead among women by 49 percent to 40 percent, while Flávio led among men by 52 percent to 40 percent.

Malu Gatto, an associate professor of Latin American politics at University College London, said the gender gap widened after Jair Bolsonaro emerged in 2018, as men gravitated toward the right and women became more supportive of the Workers’ Party.

Both campaigns addressed violence against women, particularly femicide, after several brutal cases drew national attention. Brazil recorded 1,571 femicides in 2025, the highest number since the crime was defined in law in 2015, according to the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety.

A woman prays as evangelicals gather to sing and give praise at dawn on Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on October 11.

Fraga Alves/Reuters

Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL), Douglas Ruas and pastor Silas Malafaia attend the official celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Assembly of God, Madureira Ministry, in Rio de Janeiro on October 10.

Tita Barros/Reuters

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva kisses an image of Our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil’s patron saint, next to his wife Rosangela “Janja” da Silva, on the day of a Mass marking the Day of Our Lady of Aparecida, outside Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on October 12.

Adriano Machado/Reuters

According to Gatto, the right traditionally emphasizes tougher criminal penalties for aggressors, while the left places greater emphasis on protection and support for victims, including shelters and specialized services.

Evangelicals, a growing demographic in the predominately Catholic country, have also turned into an important voting bloc for the right. Datafolha found Bolsonaro leading among evangelicals by 62 percent to 29 percent, while Lula led among Catholics by 52 percent to 42 percent.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva waves a Brazilian flag during a campaign rally in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on October 21, 2026.

Douglas Magno/AFP/Getty Images

Beyond Brazil

Trump praised Flávio Bolsonaro’s electoral performance following the first round but stopped short of formally endorsing him, even as his administration’s tariffs on Brazil and pressure over Jair Bolsonaro’s prosecution have strained relations with Lula.

The tensions surfaced again during last week’s TV debate. Lula accused the Bolsonaro family of aligning itself with US interests at Brazil’s expense, while Flávio rejected the charge and criticized Lula’s foreign policy.

A Bolsonaro victory could have brought Latin America’s largest economy closer to the US, particularly on security and organized crime, and strengthen a wave of conservative governments elected across the region. Lula has instead emphasized multilateralism, ties with the Global South and China — Brazil’s largest export market — and his resistance to Trump’s tariff measures as a defense of national sovereignty.

The narrow result could also test the country’s stability after Jair Bolsonaro’s attempts to overturn his 2022 defeat led to the January 8, 2023, attacks on government institutions. Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing.

Lula has secured an unprecedented fourth term as Brazil’s president, but with a more conservative Congress and a razor-thin margin of victory, he faces governing a country that remains deeply divided.

Helen Regan contributed reporting.

The post Brazil’s Lula wins reelection with victory over Trump ally Bolsonaro, who rejects result appeared first on Egypt Independent.