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Senator Flavio Bolsonaro finished ahead of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil's first-round presidential vote, defying polls and forcing an October 25 runoff.
Brazil's presidential election will go to a runoff on October 25 after Senator Flavio Bolsonaro finished ahead of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the first round.
In a surprise result that defied opinion polls showing Lula in the lead, Bolsonaro scored 47 per cent of the vote to the incumbent's 45 per cent. The result marked a major setback for Lula, who at almost 81 is seeking a fourth term, and it set the stage for three weeks of intense campaigning.
Flavio Bolsonaro Inherits Father Legacy
Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, is the son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup against Lula in 2023. Flavio was little known nationally before his jailed father anointed him as his political heir, and he had never expressed ambition to follow in his footsteps. Yet his father's powerful name won over the country's conservative base, and he slid past Lula despite a campaign marked by scandals and mudslinging.
Bolsonaro said he was very happy to have led Lula in the first-round vote and voiced confidence in a runoff victory. I am very happy with the real possibility that, three weeks from now, Brazil will give a definitive answer by choosing a modern government, he said. Lula responded by branding the vote a battle between democracy and barbarism, warning that Brazil's sovereignty was at stake in the face of pressure from the United States.
Tomorrow we start a new campaign, Lula said. I am very good in the knockout stage. We will see who has the best plan. The veteran leftist, an 80-year-old icon of democratic socialism, positions himself as one of the few Latin American leaders who maintains a critical stance toward the United States and President Donald Trump.
Lula Accuses US Of Undermining Sovereignty
He has accused the US administration of undermining Brazil's sovereignty, using the Trump-Bolsonaro alliance as a rallying point. The first round also delivered a series of landslide wins for the right in parliament, deepening the setback for Lula. Voters in the deeply polarized nation were left jaded by familiar choices, and few voted with conviction. Both candidates now have three weeks to reach moderate voters who did not support them in the first round.
If Bolsonaro triumphs on October 25, Brazil would become the latest country in Latin America to swing to the right, a trend championed by Trump. Lula has seen his approval ratings plummet during his third term, but standing up to the US gave him a boost and he still enjoys a strong base of supporters who credit his social policies for improving millions of Brazilians' lives.
Voters also cast ballots on the same day for 27 governors, state legislators, all 513 members of the federal congress, and 54 of the 81 senators. The election carried far-reaching implications for Latin America's political balance. Oscarina de Oliveira, a 62-year-old caregiver, told AFP she had planned to vote for Lula, as she always has, but switched to Bolsonaro when she got to the polls.
In Rio de Janeiro, history professor and Lula supporter Alvaro Senra, 65, said he felt calm but very sad as he watched the count with friends at a bar. He said he thought the result came from conservatives working under the radar, including through neo-Pentecostal churches, but added that Lula can still win.
Voters Divided On Religion And Rights
Earlier in the day, Maria Ribeiro, a 50-year-old cellphone vendor from Brasilia, said she voted for Bolsonaro's eldest son because she wanted freedom to express her evangelical religion. She hoped he would follow in his father's footsteps. The proximity to his father worried Lorena Zschaber, a 40-year-old photographer who watched the results at an LGBTQ-friendly bar in downtown Rio de Janeiro. During his father's presidency, people felt more at ease to discriminate, she said.
I am an LGBTQ woman, I can't think of anything worse happening than Flavio Bolsonaro being elected, she added. Rosangela Resende da Rocha, a 69-year-old former stay-at-home mother, said she supported Lula's social policies that help the less fortunate and how he stood up to Trump. That crazy guy wants to come in here to buy our country, so that our country will be like it is over there, she said at a voting center in Brasilia.
He won't succeed if Lula wins. Two candidates who garnered about 5.3 million votes combined, Ronaldo Caiado and Renan Santos, have previously said they would not endorse either candidate in the runoff. Their voters could prove decisive in a race that remains tight. Lula supporters have argued he is the only one who can keep the rising tide of far-right politics in check, while Bolsonaro backers say the left has stagnated and violated Brazil's sovereignty.
Election Outcomes Shape Regional Social Policies
The outcome will shape Brazil's social programs, its role as a democratic bulwark, and the balance between state-led social support and market-oriented policies across the region's largest population. Former left-wing governors who backed Lula in 2022 have switched allegiances to Bolsonaro, dampening hopes of a united left-wing front. A teenager from Amazonas state, speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, said she chose Lula because of programs supporting vulnerable groups and fears that protections for Indigenous peoples would be closed.
Brazil's election has long reverberated beyond its borders, given the country's role as a driver of manufacturing and trade ties across Latin America and within global supply chains. Whether it remains cemented in progressive reform or shifts toward conservative economic policies will influence the continent's political landscape. For many voters, the choice is framed as one between democracy and authoritarianism, or between social support and privatized austerity.
The president's administration has faced corruption allegations involving his son and a former aide, as well as allegations implicating Supreme Court justices, fueling narratives that the administration is not above the system. The courts have increasingly come to resemble a battleground for political influence. With the runoff three weeks away, both camps are preparing for a fierce fight over the moderate voters who will decide Brazil's next president.
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abcnews:Bolsonaro defies expectations in Brazil presidential vote to face Lula in run-offThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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