Brazilian right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro overtook President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s tightly contested presidential runoff on Sunday evening, as results trickled in after a Supreme Court-mandated pause in vote counting injected confusion into an already tense runoff race.
With over 20% of tallies reported, Bolsonaro, the son of convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro, led with 50.02% to Lula’s 49.98%.
A victory for Bolsonaro, 45, would extend a wave of right-wing victories for Latin American candidates friendly to US President Donald Trump, while a fourth mandate for Lula would be a bulwark against Washington’s influence in the region as his government has pushed back on US trade and security policies. The unexpected voting extension injects uncertainty into a Brazilian electoral process still grappling with the fallout from 2022, when Jair Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat to Lula. His supporters later invaded government buildings in protest against the result, and Bolsonaro received a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup.
In a subsequent ruling, Zanin said those stations would remain shut, allowing authorities to begin tallying those votes, but that polling stations that had not closed after the official cutoff could keep receiving voters for an additional two hours. “Depending on the election result, there is a possibility that the losing side might attempt to contest the outcome, arguing that many people were unable to vote even with the extended deadline,” said Vera Chemim, a constitutional lawyer in São Paulo. The senator’s brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, speaking on a live stream on his YouTube channel, questioned why the Supreme Court had ruled in a process overseen by the country’s federal electoral court: “Strange, isn’t it?” he said. In comments before Zanin’s decision, Lula said “something abominable is happening” in this election.
“It’s hard to imagine what the legal basis for this could possibly be. It doesn’t inspire credibility.
