SAO PAULO — Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a fourth term in office, defeating right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro in the runoff vote.
The 80-year-old took just under 52% of the vote in the second round. Addressing cheering supporters in São Paulo, Lula thanked them and said they had “defended Brazilian democracy.”
Flávio Bolsonaro, who won the first round of the election, said the result was “inexplicable” and called for it to be annulled. He did not immediately set out the grounds for his challenge.
The result caps a deeply polarized contest. Flávio Bolsonaro’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is currently serving a jail sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup after losing the last election.
The immediate focus is on Flávio Bolsonaro’s call for the result to be annulled and whether it gains any legal traction. Lula’s supporters, meanwhile, are treating the runoff victory as a defense of Brazil’s democratic institutions — a message the president-elect reinforced in São Paulo.
