Lula Wins Fourth Term as Bolsonaro Refuses to Concede

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a fourth term as Brazil's president, beating the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro in Sunday's run-off. With every vote counted, Lula, who is 80, took 51.79 percent to Bolsonaro's 48.21 percent, a gap of 4.4 million votes.

Bolsonaro, 45, did not accept the outcome. Soon after the electoral authority confirmed the result, he said it was "impossible to concede" and that his legal team would seek to have the election annulled. His main complaint was a decision by Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin to extend voting by two hours, to 7pm, which he called "unacceptable" and said amounted to "changing the rules of the game while the game was being played". His speech did not mention that his own campaign had also asked the electoral court to extend voting hours.

A comeback no runner-up had managed

Lula narrowly lost the first round in early October, which left his political future in doubt. Since democracy returned in the 1980s, no candidate who finished second in the first round had gone on to win the second vote.

Turnout appears to have made up much of the difference. Abstention hit a record 21.08 percent in the first round and fell to 19.21 percent in the run-off. Lula voters were affected more in the first round because they tend to live further from polling stations.

Speaking to supporters in a packed São Paulo conference hall, Lula said: "We are going to change the way that this country is governed … This election was a defeat for denialism." Health minister Alexandre Padilha called it "a massive victory – not just for Brazil" and "an important signal to the rest of Latin America and to the world".

Reaction at home and abroad

Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum wrote: "Long live democracy, the people of Brazil won. Congratulations, President Lula!" Paraguay's president, Santiago Peña, said he saluted "the Brazilian people for this great democratic journey".

In Brasília, news of the result was greeted with anger and bewilderment. The candidate's father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is under house arrest and serving a 27-year sentence for a coup plot after he also refused to accept defeat to Lula four years ago. He had hoped to be freed and given a role in government had his son won.

The day before the vote, more than a million people gathered on Rio's Copacabana beach to show support for Lula, and an even larger crowd marched along Paulista Avenue in São Paulo. Some voters in São Paulo said they were angry about what they described as an attempt by pro-Bolsonaro politicians to sabotage public transport in areas that lean towards Lula. That effort did not stop him winning.

Lula turns 81 on Tuesday. He first won the presidency in 2002 as Brazil's first elected working-class president, after failed bids in 1989, 1994 and 1998, and returned to office by beating Jair Bolsonaro in 2022.

Source: The Guardian