Incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 81, has secured his fourth presidential term by defeating Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in the presidential runoff election held on the 25th, local time.

According to the Superior Electoral Court of Brazil, with 99.76% of the votes counted, President Lula confirmed his victory with 51.76% of the vote.

Candidate Bolsonaro finished behind with 48.24%.

With this victory, President Lula has captured his fourth presidential mandate since taking office for the first time in 2003, setting a record as the first four-term president in modern Brazilian political history.

Since his first presidential run in 1989, he has also left a record of 4 wins and 3 losses, having run for the presidency seven times, winning four and losing three.

On the other hand, candidate Flavio Bolsonaro, who aimed to become Brazil's first father-son president following his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, performed strongly in the early stages of the count but allowed a late-stage comeback and suffered defeat.

Additionally, this puts a brake on the "blue tide," the wave of right-wing governments sweeping across the Latin American continent following the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

There had been no cases of right-wing defeats in Latin American presidential elections since January 2025, when the second Trump administration was launched, but this marks the first time the left-wing camp has won in Brazil, the largest country in Latin America.

The vote-counting process until President Lula's victory was confirmed played out like a drama.

President Lula led in the early stages of the count, but once vote counting surpassed 13.98%, candidate Bolsonaro succeeded in turning the tables.

The gap in vote shares between the two candidates widened to over 1 percentage point, making it seem as though the outcome was sealed.

However, President Lula began to close the gap once vote counting exceeded 30%, and managed a re-reversal around the 48% mark.

He subsequently widened the margin bit by bit to seize victory.

(Photo: Getty Images)