Lula wins Brazil's runoff in a historic comeback

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won Brazil's presidential runoff, securing a record fourth term after one of the closest races in the country's modern history.

With nearly all votes counted on Sunday, 25 October, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) put Lula on about 51.8% of valid votes to 48.2% for senator Flávio Bolsonaro, a gap of roughly 4.4 million votes.

It was a historic comeback. Flávio led the first round on 4 October with 47.03% to Lula's 45.16%, and since direct presidential elections returned in 1989, no candidate had lost the first round and then won the runoff. Early returns on Sunday also favoured Flávio before Lula pulled ahead late in the count.

Flávio, the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, has refused to concede. He disputes a two-hour extension of voting ordered by a Supreme Court justice and says his lawyers will ask the courts to annul the vote. No court has accepted his challenges so far.

Lula, who turns 81 this week, will begin his new four-year term in January 2027. He faces a Congress where Bolsonaro's Liberal Party holds the largest bench in decades, high public debt and nervous markets. Brazilian stocks fell sharply on Monday.

Update, 28 October: Flávio Bolsonaro has left Brazil. After the election, the Supreme Court ordered him to hand over his regular and diplomatic passports so he could not leave before being investigated for embezzlement and money laundering.

He crossed into Argentina on foot late on Tuesday, flew by private plane to Guayaquil in Ecuador, and landed near Miami on Wednesday morning with his family, after the US State Department issued them visas. His immunity as a senator ends in January, because he gave up his seat to run for president. Brazil and the US have an extradition treaty, but there is no word yet on whether Brazil will ask for his return.