Lula wins
fourth term as Brazil president after historic upset over far-right Flávio
Bolsonaro
Leftist
incumbent Lula says unprecedented comeback was a ‘defeat for denialism’ as
Bolsonaro refuses to accept election result
Tom Phillips in São Paulo and Tiago Rogero in Brasília
Mon 26
Oct 2026 01.19 CET
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/26/lula-wins-brazil-election
Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva, the Brazilian
president, has staged a dramatic election
fightback, defeating his far-right opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro,
to claim a historic fourth term in power.
With 100%
of votes counted the 80-year-old leftist received 4.4m votes more than
Bolsonaro, with a 51.79% share to his 45-year-old rival’s 48.21%. However, soon
after Brazil’s electoral authority confirmed Lula’s victory, Bolsonaro refused
to concede defeat and asked for the results to be annulled.
Lula
narrowly lost the first round of the election to Bolsonaro in early October,
casting his political future into
doubt and plunging progressive
Brazilians into three weeks of despair. Never, since the return of
democracy in the 1980s, has the first round runner-up won the second vote.
But Lula
did precisely that on Sunday, prompting joyous scenes on the streets of São
Paulo, where he had been following events, and at the hotel where he was
watching the count.
Addressing
a packed crowd of ecstatic supporters in a São Paulo conference hall, Lula
said: “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.”
After the
result was confirmed, Alexandre Padilha, Lula’s health minister, said: “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 defense
of our national health service and our education system and the Brazilian
constitution. And the risks that the extreme right candidate 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,” Padilha added.
Flavio
Bolsonaro speaks after the results of the general election were announced.
Photograph: Ton Molina/Getty Images
The
8o-year-old appears to have made up much of the difference through what his
allies had identified as his main opportunity: persuading his voters to turn
out. After a record abstention rate of 21.08% in the first round, which
disproportionately affected Lula voters because they tend to live further from
polling stations, the rate fell to 19.21%.
Speaking
during Lula’s victory speech, Bolsonaro said it was “impossible to concede the
election result” and that his legal team would seek to have the election
annulled.
Lula's
supporters celebrate in São Paulo after 'historic election victory' - video
Following
in the footsteps of his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who
four years ago also refused to acknowledge his defeat to 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.
His
speech made no mention of the fact that his campaign had also asked the
electoral court to extend voting hours, but he nevertheless said Justice
Cristiano Zanin’s decision to extend voting by two hours to 7pm “was not
normal, it was unacceptable” and amounted to “changing the rules of the game
while the game was being played”.
For Lula,
who turns 81 on Tuesday, the victory represents a sensational final chapter in
a storied political career that began when he emerged
as a union leader in São Paulo’s industrial suburbs in the late 1970s.
After
entering politics, the former factory worker who was born in rural poverty made
three unsuccessful presidential bids, in 1989, 1994 and 1998, before finally
becoming Brazil’s first
elected working-class president in 2002.
Lula
addresses supporters during a victory rally after winning a fourth term on
Sunday. Photograph: André Penner/AP
Lula
stepped down after the maximum two consecutive terms allowed by the
constitution but returned to power after winning the 2022 election against
Bolsonaro’s father, then the incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, who
was subsequently jailed for plotting a coup.
Lula’s
win is bad news for Jair Bolsonaro who is serving a 27-year
sentence for that botched power grab and was hoping to be freed and given a
role in government had his son prevailed.
It 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.
Confirmation
of Lula’s victory was greeted with anger and bewilderment in Brasília, where
Bolsonaro is living under house arrest and where his son watched the count.
On Sunday
night, political leaders applauded Lula. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum
said: “Long live democracy, the people of Brazil won. Congratulations, President Lula!”, while Paraguayan president Santiago
Peña said “I salute the Brazilian people for this great democratic journey.”
A Lula
supporter celebrates after the election result is announced. Photograph: Tita
Barros/Reuters
Lula’s
victory came after his supporters staged two massive shows
of support on Saturday, with more than a million people flocking to Rio’s
Copacabana beach and an even larger number marching on Paulista Avenue.
Many
people on the streets of São Paulo were angry at an apparent attempt by
pro-Bolsonaro politicians to derail the election by sabotaging public transport
in Lula-leaning voting areas across the country.
“I think
it’s another coup attempt that the extreme right is trying in Brazil. But we
need to really fight so we can win,” said Lucas Lopes, a 32-year-old from São
Paulo who works with public relations.
But that
alleged attempt to scupper a Lula victory failed.
“I’ll be
sincere: in the first round the left failed. But in the second round they woke
up,” said Caio Marques, a 40-year-old photographer from Franca, a city in the
interior of São Paulo state. “And there is no coup that will take this away
from us.”
“I feel
so, so happy … There’s not enough room in my chest for all this joy. Lula’s
victory represents so much. It means life for those who believe in love and in
life,” said Maicon Douglas Bento, a 34-year-old photographer, as he joined tens
of thousands of jubilant Brazilians on Paulista Avenue at the heart of São
Paulo.
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