Brasilia [Brazil], October 26 (ANI): Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT) has taken a slight, razor-thin lead over right-wing rival Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL) as early counting got underway in the second round of Brazil’s presidential election, according to official data released by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
With approximately 9.99 per cent of the total ballots tabulated, Lula secured 50.48 per cent of the valid votes (6,314,616 votes), closely trailed by Flávio Bolsonaro, who garnered 49.52 per cent (6,194,350 votes).
According to TSE figures updated at 7:38 PM local time on Sunday, a total of 12,508,966 valid votes have been processed so far.
The electoral authority noted that null votes stood at 1.96 per cent, while blank ballots accounted for 1.01 per cent of the early count.
Polling was set to conclude across Brazil in the presidential runoff between Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro, following an unexpected decision by the country’s Supreme Court to extend voting hours nationwide by two hours, Al Jazeera reported.
According to Brasil 247, the 2026 election is the largest in Brazil’s history, with 158.7 million people eligible to vote. Around 86% of the electorate is subject to mandatory voting, while voting is optional for 14%. Nearly 89% of registered voters have biometric records, which are used to facilitate identification at polling stations.
According to Al Jazeera, Brazil’s 2022 presidential election was among the closest in the country’s history.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in the October 30 runoff, securing 50.9 per cent of the vote against Bolsonaro’s 49.1 per cent, a difference of approximately 2.1 million votes, Al Jazeera reported.
Bolsonaro outperformed expectations in the first round, reducing Lula’s lead despite trailing him in pre-election opinion polls. During the runoff vote count, Bolsonaro initially took the lead before Lula moved ahead as more ballots were counted. Bolsonaro did not immediately concede defeat following the announcement of the results, the news report added. (ANI)