Ione Wells
Reporting from Brasília

Image source, Reuters

While Flavio Bolsonaro’s campaign have complained about how this result played out, it is worth a reminder that both campaigns complained about disruption to voting and requested that polling was extended.

President Lula’s campaign had raised the issue of public transport issues in key cities like Salvador and Sao Paulo, while Senator Bolsonaro’s campaign had said bad weather was affecting turnout in several states.

The problem was highlighted earlier in the day, but initially the president of the Supreme Electoral Court did not take action. As a result, the decision to extend voting then came just after polls were meant to close - meaning some polling stations had already shut and were then not able to re-open.

The Supreme Court judge Cristiano Zanin, who is a former lawyer for President Lula, ordered the extension in the absence of a decision by the court’s president.

The court president Kassio Nunes Marques, who was appointed by Jair Bolsonaro, later confirmed the victory of President Lula and affirmed that the extension of polling hours didn’t cause any problems for the count or electoral process.

Incumbent Brazilian President Lula pulled off a remarkable turnaround after placing behind his challenger Flavio Bolsonaro in the first round of the election.

BBC correspondent Ione Wells is in Brasília to explain how he did it.

Thousands of Lula's supporters have spilled out onto the streets of São Paulo, celebrating his win - here are the latest pictures from the scene.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

Lula has been addressing his supporters in São Paulo and thanking them for their support, which he said made it possible for him to recover from his defeat in the first round of the election to go on to win in the run-off.

He mentioned young voters, women and teachers as having contributed to his victory.

He also praised workers who had fought for a shorter working week. A constitutional amendment guaranteeing employees two days off a week without a cut in salary was approved by Congress less than two weeks before the run-off and is thought to have boosted support for Lula, who had backed it.

Then, Lula asked for the national anthem to be played.

"Long live democracy," he said as the anthem finished, adding that "this, my fourth term, will be the best of any president in the history of this country".

"It will be the one in which I listen most to the Brazilian people."

Caio Quero
BBC News Brasil editor

Image source, Reuters

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected to a fourth term after defeating Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the runoff of Brazil’s presidential election.

With 98.87% of ballot boxes counted, Brazil’s electoral court (TSE) declared Lula mathematically elected. The incumbent president secured 51.79% of the vote against Bolsonaro’s 48.21%, a wider margin than his victory over Flávio’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, in 2022.

The result came as a surprise, marking the first time since Brazil's return to democracy that a candidate who lost the first round managed to overturn the result and win the presidency.

It followed a massive campaign by Lula’s supporters on social media and street demonstrations that drew hundreds of thousands of people to Brazil’s main cities, including Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Election day was also marked by high voter turnout, with the largest drop in abstention between the first and second rounds of a presidential election in democratic elections since 1989.

The day, however, was marred by controversy, with Lula’s campaign alleging voter suppression after a shortage of buses left voters struggling to reach polling stations in several cities, including São Paulo and Salvador, in north-eastern Brazil.

Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign also called for an extension of voting hours because of adverse weather conditions in southern Brazil. The Supreme Court eventually extended voting by two hours.

Jair Bolsonaro is currently under arrest after being convicted in September 2025 of attempting a coup d’état after losing the 2022 elections against Lula.

Lula becomes the first president in Brazilian history to win a fourth term and will remain in office until 2030.

Ione Wells
Reporting from Brasília

Image source, Reuters

From the official count data we are seeing, this was close - but not as close as the first round.

There were more than 4 million votes between President Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro, or about 3 points. That’s more than the 2 points that Bolsonaro won the first round with.

It’s too early to say what made this difference - but we do know that President Lula’s campaign really gained momentum in the last few weeks and had an energy to it that we didn’t see in the first round.

Their major strategy was also to try boost the voter turnout, after 33 million people didn’t vote in round one.

Vanessa Buschschlüter
Latin America and Caribbean editor

Image source, Getty Images

Flávio Bolsonaro had been expecting a victory tonight. His reaction to his election loss has been to question the result.

He said it was "impossible to recognise" even though with all of the results now in, he is trailing with 48.21% compared to Lula's 51.79%.

He is calling for an annulment of the election, and the reason he is giving is that "the rules of the game were changed".

What he is referring to is the decision by the Supreme Court to extend voting by two hours.

While it was an unusual decision, it was one which had been formally requested by both Lula and Bolsonaro's campaign teams.

Lula's team had argued that voters in São Paulo and Bahia could not get to the polling stations because of a lack of busses.

Bolsonaro's team cited heavy rain in some areas in the south of the country and in São Paulo as the reason for their request.

In his first public appearance, Bolsonaro said he would get his campaign's legal team to request the annulment.

No doubt the legal team is now busy hammering out the arguments it will put before the court to back up its claim.

But no presidential election in Brazil has ever been annulled.

Branca Lessa de Sa
Reporting from Brasília

Flávio Bolsonaro was visibly angry as he delivered comments outside of the home in Brasília a little earlier.

He said that a lot would need to be "cleared up" before this "sacanagem" - a Brazilian term meaning dirty trick - could be accepted.

Pablo Marçal, an influencer and former mayoral candidate who has been coordinating a social media campaign in support of Bolsonaro, also spoke after leaving the house in Brasilia.

He said the decision by Brazil’s Supreme Court to extend voting hours was a "tragedy".

As a reminder, both sides asked for extensions to voting hours for different reasons - read more here.

We'll bring you more details to explain the fallout - and what could happen next - shortly.

Pascal Fletcher
Latin American Specialist, BBC Monitoring

Many media outlets in Brazil have been describing the result as a "historic turnaround" for Lula.

Lula's victory represented "a historic turnaround in the hardest-fought election race in [Brazil's] history," Brasilia-based daily Correio Braziliense wrote.

Brazilian news magazine Veja noted that Lula had managed to achieve a number of firsts in his country's electoral history: he becomes the first Brazilian politician to win the presidency four times, and also the first candidate to win a run-off vote after finishing second in the earlier round of voting.

Daily O Estado de S. Paulo and other outlets reported on Lula's jubilant supporters celebrating in the central Avenida Paulista of Brazil's largest city, São Paulo.

Image source, Getty Images

Leaders from across Latin America are sending congratulations to Lula.

• Paraguay President Santiago Peña posted on X: "I salute the Brazilian people for this great democratic journey".
• Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on social media: "Long live democracy, the people of Brazil won. Congratulations, President Lula!"
• Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz said:"Bolivia and Brazil are neighbouring and brother countries, united by a shared history and common challenges. We will continue working together to strengthen our relationship and generate more opportunities for ​our nations."
• Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel called it an "historic victory" which "ensures the continuity of ​the ⁠path of peace, sovereignty, and social justice embarked upon by the Brazilian people under your leadership".
• Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi called Lula a "friend" and said he had "congratulated him ​on the victory and on the democratic celebration that ​an electoral process represents".
• Panama President José Raúl Mulino said: "I ⁠congratulate ​the Brazilian people for this democratic ​day and especially President Lula for the victory!"

Here's a reminder of the split between left- and right-wing leaders in the region:

Earlier, we brought you photos of jubilant Lula supporters.

However, it's a different story for supporters of Flávio Bolsonaro who were visibly upset at the outcome.

The son of the former president, who is currently under house arrest, has so far refused to recognise Lula's victory.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Ione Wells
Reporting from Brasília

Image source, Getty Images

Flávio Bolsonaro was expecting to give a victory speech tonight here in Brasília after winning the first round.

Instead, he just said that what happened was “impossible” and “inexplicable” and said the result should be annulled.

His supporters chanted his name as he left. This lack of recognition of the result could sow a lot of distrust among his supporters.

With his comments tonight, he follows in his father Jair Bolsonaro’s footsteps - he too refused to recognise his election loss in 2022.

Ione Wells
Reporting from Brasília

Huge crowds of press are gathered at the house here in Brasília where Flavio Bolsonaro was watching the result.

The scene was set for a victory party and speech, with a big screen and supporters of his inside.

When it was clear which way the wind was blowing, some of those supporters left early looking despondent and in some cases visibly annoyed.

We are waiting for Flavio Bolsonaro to speak - the big question is whether or not he will accept this result.

Vanessa Buschschlüter
Latin America and Caribbean editor

In his victory speech, Lula again stresses that Brazil will "not accept being anyone's backyard".

This has been one of phrases he has repeated time and time again in his campaign.

It refers to the term "America's backyard" - a pithy way to describe the idea in US policy that Latin America should be under the sphere of influence of the United States.

That idea is one that President Donald Trump has enshrined in what he himself has called "Donroe Doctrine" but which has raised hackles in Latin America.

President Lula's defence of Brazil's sovereignty is one of the things which pollsters think won him votes, with voters rejecting what they saw as US interference.

Lula thanks those who coordinated his campaign, as well as the "generosity of Brazilian people", including young people, who he says "went to the streets to defend Brazilian democracy".

People voted because we could convince them that the vote was important for the sovereignty of our country, he tells the crowds.

He says this election was a "loss for negativity, lies".

Image source, Getty Images

"Our throats are very tired," Lula begins, with a hoarse voice.

He almost immediately hands over to his Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, who he says he wants to speak first.

"You, for the second time, have saved Brazilian democracy," Alckmin tells Lula.

Image source, Getty Images

After a short delay, Lula is now speaking in São Paulo.

He is being thronged by supporters trying to take selfies with him.

We'll bring you the key lines from his speech.

We're getting some early pictures of Lula supporters celebrating in Rio de Janeiro.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Joao Fellet
BBC Brasil, reporting from São Paulo

Image source, Getty Images

Lula's supporters are celebrating intensely, many of them in tears.

Many didn't believe this victory would be possible. People are setting fireworks and singing.

São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista turned into a carnival block on a Sunday night.

Just after the result was declared, Lula was seen celebrating and kissing his wife in a video posted in his WhatsApp community group.