Lula wins fourth term as Brazil president, Flávio Bolsonaro refuses to concede

BRASILIA: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won the Brazilian presidential runoff, securing a fourth term in office. His rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, has refused to concede.

With 100 per cent of votes counted, the electoral court said Lula, 80, led by nearly 4.4 million votes. He took 51.79 per cent against 48.21 per cent for Bolsonaro, 45, a senator.

Lula had narrowly lost the first round to Bolsonaro in early October. Since the return of democracy in the 1980s, no first-round runner-up in Brazil had won the second vote, according to the Guardian.

Speaking to supporters in a packed hall in São Paulo, Lula said: "This election was a defeat for denialism." He added: "It was democracy that made this happen."

He also said: "This country will not accept being anyone's backyard." He pledged to respect all Brazilians regardless of gender or religion.

Lula turns 81 on Tuesday. He is due to begin his fourth non-consecutive term on 5 January 2027.

Bolsonaro spoke while Lula was giving his victory speech. He said it was "impossible to concede the election result" and that his legal team would seek to have the election annulled.

He cited a decision by Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin to extend voting by two hours, to 7pm. Bolsonaro called it "not normal, it was unacceptable". He said it amounted to "changing the rules of the game while the game was being played".

Zanin ruled three minutes before voting was due to end. The extension followed requests from both candidates. The Guardian reported that Bolsonaro's campaign had also asked the electoral court to extend voting hours. Evening confusion was reported at some polling places.

Turnout appeared to help Lula. Abstention in the first round was a record 21.08 per cent, which the Guardian said hit Lula voters more because they tend to live further from polling stations. It fell to 19.21 per cent in the runoff.

Flávio Bolsonaro is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who lost to Lula in 2022. Jair Bolsonaro also refused to accept defeat. He was later convicted over an attempted coup.

Alexandre Padilha, Lula's health minister, called the result "a massive victory – not just for Brazil". He said it was "an important signal to the rest of Latin America and to the world".

Lula is a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump. According to the Associated Press, the win runs against a regional trend of victories for right-of-centre candidates allied with Trump. Brazil's economy, the largest in Latin America, has a GDP of $2.6 trillion a year.

Crowds gathered in São Paulo and in Rio de Janeiro's Cinelandia Square to celebrate. Rodrigo Valentim, 51, a Bolsonaro supporter in Rio, said: "The country is collapsing."