Lula wins Brazilian runoff with 51.8% of vote after polls extended two hours

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was re-elected president of Brazil on Sunday, winning a second consecutive term after a runoff marked by a late decision to keep polling stations open.

With all votes counted, Brazil's electoral court said Lula took 51.8 per cent of the total, a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes over opponent Flávio Bolsonaro. He turns 81 on Tuesday. His fourth term as president begins Jan. 5, 2027.

The count was delayed by two hours after Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ruled three minutes before the scheduled closing time to extend voting. Lula's campaign had cited bus problems affecting transport to polls in São Paulo and Salvador. Bolsonaro's campaign pointed to heavy rain in Brazil's south, where he is favoured. Bolsonaro said after the results were announced that he wants the election "anulled" over the extension. Bolsonaro ally Nikolas Ferreira noted that Zanin, who made the ruling, is Lula's former lawyer. At one Rio de Janeiro polling station, voting machines had already been switched off minutes after the scheduled close and could not be turned back on.

Lula told supporters he would respect all Brazilians regardless of gender or religion. He said the result was "a defeat for denialism and lies." He also spoke about the country's sovereignty: "This country will not accept being anyone's backyard." Hundreds of his supporters gathered on Sao Paulo's main avenue to mark the result. In Rio de Janeiro, cars sounded their horns.

Rodrigo Valentim, a 51-year-old Bolsonaro supporter and businessman, said a new Lula government would hurt the economy. "I don't understand how people can vote for Lula," he said. "The country is collapsing." Cost of living and security were central concerns in the campaign. Bolsonaro pledged to bring down food costs and ran on a tough-on-crime approach. Lula, seeking undecided voters, invested in incentives.

Lula first ran for president three times before winning in 2002, and was re-elected in 2006. He spent more than a year in prison on corruption convictions that were later annulled after a court found the judge who convicted him was biased. He returns to the presidency with Brazil's GDP at $2.6 trillion US a year, as Trump-imposed tariffs have increased pressure on the country. Lula joins U.S. President Donald Trump and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, all aged 80, as the oldest presidents in the Americas.

Bolsonaro lost the first round by more than 2.2 million votes. Lula's runoff win is the first time since Brazil's military dictatorship ended in 1985 that the second-highest vote-getter in the first round won the presidency.