Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, was re-elected on Sunday in a result that provides relief to critics of widening US influence in Latin America.
With 100% of the vote counted, Brazil’s electoral court announced that the soon-to-be 81-year-old Mr Lula had a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes – 51.8% of the total vote – over opponent Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
The announcement capped an evening of chaos at polling places across Brazil, following a last-minute decision to extend voting by two hours.
Late on Sunday local time, Mr Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat, calling the move to extend voting hours unprecedented -though both he and Mr Lula made the request – and asked for the election results to be annulled, saying they were impossible to accept.
Mr Lula’s triumph bucks a trend in Latin America where increasing numbers of right-of-centre presidential candidates allied with Mr Trump have been winning.
Mr Lula’s victory leaves Mexico and Brazil, Latin America’s two most populous nations, with left-of-centre leaders.
It also positions Latin America’s largest economy, with a GDP of 2.6 trillion dollars (£1.9 trillion) per year, to remain independent of the US, despite the pressure of increased tariffs imposed by Mr Trump.
A video published by Mr Lula’s campaign shows the veteran leader celebrating with First Lady Rosangela da Silva and allies after his runoff victory was confirmed by Brazil’s electoral court.
Wearing star-shaped red glasses, he kissed his wife. Hundreds of his supporters began gathering on Sao Paulo’s main artery to celebrate the victory.
In Rio de Janeiro, cars beeped their horns and a woman dressed in red — the colour of Mr Lula supporters — shouted “You lost! Cry harder!” to four men in yellow and green sipping beers, Mr Bolsonaro’s signature colours.
A huge roar echoed in the street as the result was confirmed.
Rodrigo Valentim, a 51-year-old businessman and supporter of Mr Bolsonaro, said that another Lula government would harm the economy.
He pointed to financial markets’ positive reaction to the result of the first round, when Mr Bolsonaro bested Mr Lula.
“I don’t understand how people can vote for Lula,” he said. “The country is collapsing.”
Mr Lula’s victory, if confirmed by electoral authorities, will give him his non-consecutive fourth term as president. The next term begins on January 5 2027.
It is the first time since Brazil’s military dictatorship ended in 1985 that the second-highest vote-getter in the first-round elections won the presidency.
Mr Bolsonaro had 47% of the vote in the first round to Mr Lula’s 45%, a difference of 2.2 million votes.
Mr Lula and Mr Bolsonaro have yet to address their supporters.
Sunday’s victory will likely be the last of the veteran leader’s political career. Mr Lula began his political career in the 1970s as a union leader.
He then helped found the Workers’ Party, which he represented as a presidential candidate three times until he finally won it in 2002.
He was reelected four years later and was succeeded by one of his cabinet ministers, Dilma Rousseff, in 2010. She was reelected in 2014.
Ms Rousseff was impeached for accounting manoeuvring in 2016 amid a sprawling corruption probe, which also ensnared Mr Lula.
He tried to run for president again in 2018 but was jailed in March after being convicted.
Mr Lula was released from prison after 580 days and saw Brazil’s Supreme Court annul his sentence after police found messages that showed the judge who convicted him was biased.
He quickly became one of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s biggest critics and narrowly beat him in 2022.
Mr Lula admitted in 2024, two years into the job, that his administration had done little that far to earn the support of his voters.
Since he lost the first round, Mr Lula reorganised his campaign, appealed to young voters, put millions of Brazilians on the streets to defend democratic values and his legacy, raised fears of another Bolsonaro administration and boosted several government initiatives.
Mr Lula also defended Brazil’s sovereignty and insisted that a Bolsonaro presidency would allow the US to exert control over Brazil.
He joins Mr Trump and Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega — both aged 80 — as the oldest presidents in the Americas.
