Supporters of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva react in Rio de Janeiro after his win against Flávio Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential election runoff. Photograph: Raquel Cunha/Reuters
Supporters of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva react in Rio de Janeiro after his win against Flávio Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential election runoff. Photograph: Raquel Cunha/Reuters
Bolsonaro says it is 'impossible to concede' poll result
Far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro said it was “impossible to concede the election result” and that his legal team would seek to have the election annulled.
Following in the footsteps of his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who four years ago also refused to acknowledge his defeat by Lula – before attempting a coup and being convicted for it – the senator cited a supreme court justice’s decision to extend voting hours as the alleged reason.
Although Bolsonaro had also requested an extension of voting hours, the senator said Justice Cristiano Zanin’s decision to extend it from 5pm to 7pm “was not normal, it was unacceptable” and amounted to “changing the rules of the game while the game was being played”.
Flávio Bolsonaro speaking in Brasília after the presidential runoff results. Photograph: Eraldo Peres/AP
Bolsonaro said the decision had come from “Lula’s friends on the supreme court”, pointing out that Zanin had previously represented the leftwing president as his lawyer and had been appointed to the court by him.
The justice ordered the extension minutes after 5pm, the scheduled closing time for polling stations, after fellow justice Kassio Nunes Marques spent hours without ruling on Lula’s campaign request. During the campaign, Marques, appointed by Jair Bolsonaro and current head of the electoral court, had been criticised for bias in rulings favouring the far-right senator.
I’ve just been speaking to Lula’s overjoyed health minister, Alexandre Padilha.
“This is a huge victory for the Brazilian people who in the second round had the chance to think about what President Lula means for the environment, for the defence of our national health service and our education system and for the Brazilian constitution,” he told me, clutching my hand with emotion as he spoke.
And [to think about] the risks that the extreme-right candidate [Bolsonaro] entailed.
It’s a massive victory, not just for Brazil. It’s also an important signal to the rest of Latin America and to the world.
‘A huge victory: health minister Alexandre Padilha in a file shot. Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy
Tens of thousands of Lula supporters have poured onto Paulista Avenue at the heart of São Paulo to celebrate his historic election win.
The mood is of absolute ecstasy and relief after Lula managed to stage an unprecedented second-round comeback against his far-right rival Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro.
As fireworks blasted into the night sky, a group of revellers hoisted a sign reading “Dictatorship never again” onto the roof of one of the avenue’s metro stations.
“I feel amazing. Brazil is fucking incredible. Lula is our father,” said Leonardo Machado, a 44-year-old Lula supporter as he hit his city’s most famous street to toast the president’s triumph.
It’s nearly 1am in Brazil now and the party looks likely to go on until sunrise.
A man holds up a bicycle as supporters of Lula and his Workers’ party celebrate in São Paulo. Photograph: Diego Vara/Reuters
Lula’s dramatic win is bad news for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence and was hoping to be freed and given a role in government had his son Flávio Bolsonaro prevailed in the poll.
Jair Bolsonaro was jailed for plotting a coup against Lula after the leftwinger won the 2022 election against him.
Lula’s win in this runoff election is also a blow for Donald Trump, the Bolsonaro clan’s most important international ally.
The US president had been hoping Bolsonaro would become the latest in a series of pro-Trump leaders to take power in Latin America, including Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia, Daniel Noboa in Ecuador, José Antonio Kast in Chile and Javier Milei in Argentina.
There’s more from Tom Phillips and Tiago Rogerohere.
More political leaders internationally have reacted to the news of Lula’s win against Flávio Bolsonaro.
Canada prime minister Mark Carney:
The relationship between Canada and Brazil has flourished under our partnership.
Let’s seize this opportunity to make it even stronger, together – to create major new trade opportunities, protect the environment and build greater prosperity for both our peoples.
Peruvian president Keiko Fujimori:
I congratulate President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ... and salute the Brazilian people for this democratic day.
Ecuadorean president Daniel Naboa:
Our region has common enemies, shared challenges, and much to gain when we work together.
Chilean president José Antonio Kast:
I just spoke with the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Chile and Brazil have a lot of shared future ahead, and we will continue working on an agenda that strengthens relations between our countries in economic integration and the fight against organised crime in the region.
See here for our earlier post on the reactions of other leaders in the region and beyond – including Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum and Cuba’s Miguel Díaz-Canel – also care of Reuters.
There is a mixed mood on the streets of Brazil tonight, a few hours on from Lula’s historic victory was announced. In Rio de Janeiro, cars beeped their horns and a huge roar echoed in the street as the result was confirmed.
But Rodrigo Valentim, a 51-year-old businessman and supporter of Bolsonaro, said that another Lula government would harm the economy. He pointed to financial markets’ positive reaction to the result of the first round, when Bolsonaro bested Lula.
“I don’t understand how people can vote for Lula,” he said. “The country is collapsing.”
Supporters of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva celebrate his reelection in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: Fábio Teixeira/Anadolu/Getty Images
Many have focused on the supreme court ruling extending voting by two hours, with Aurelio Junior, 45, a dentist in Brasília, calling it a “disgrace”.
We’ve never had anything like this in Brazil, and now they’ve come up with the idea of extending the election period by two hours.
However, Jacqueline Maria Lima de Franca, 34, a business owner in Rio de Janeiro who backed Lula, said it was “more than fair … everyone should have the right to vote, and that was being neglected”.
The Guardian’s Tom Phillips was in the São Paulo conference hall as Lula addressed a packed crowd of ecstatic supporters.
“I am [nearly] 81 … and I am going to do the best term a president has ever done,” Lula vowed.
We are going to change the way that this country is governed … This election was a defeat for denialism … I want to thank God and to thank you, Brazilian men and women of this country … it was democracy that made this happen.
Lula, his wife Rosangela da Silva (front left) and vice-president Geraldo Alckmin celebrate in São Paulo. Photograph: Miguel Schincariol/AFP/Getty Images
Lula’s vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin, told the crowd:
You saved Brazilian democracy for the second time. Congratulations president Lula.
The president’s supporters chanted back: “Olé. Olé. Olá! Lula! Lula!”
US senator Bernie Sanders has congratulated Lula, saying he has “stood up for Brazilian workers and democracy”.
“Congratulations to Lula on his extraordinary reelection victory in the Brazilian presidential election,” the senator, who is a key figure on the US left, wrote soon after the results were clear.
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The president of Brazil’s electoral court, Kassio Nunes Marques, has recognised Lula’s victory, saying “with more than 64 million votes, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been re-elected and will be the 40th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, for the term beginning on 5 January 2027”.
Kassio Nunes Marques, president of Brazil’s electoral court, in a polling station before voting began on Sunday. Photograph: Mateus Bonomi/Reuters
Marques added that he had called both candidates.
To President Lula, I express the electoral justice system’s recognition of his participation in yet another democratic process and of his victory at the ballot box. His political career spans different periods of Brazil’s democratic history. He has stood as a candidate in eight elections, winning four of them.
To candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, who contested a presidential election for the first time and received a significant number of votes, I offer my congratulations on his campaign.
In a five-minute speech in which he took no questions, and which appeared to have been deliberately timed to begin only after Lula’s televised victory speech had ended, Flávio Bolsonaro made no mention of the fact that his campaign had also asked the electoral court to extend voting hours.
While Lula’s request concerned cities in at least nine states where voters had not been provided with the free public transport guaranteed by law, Bolsonaro justified his request by citing heavy rain in some states.
As well as refusing to concede, the senator told his supporters:
I will not give up on my Brazil, and I hope you won’t give up either.