The incumbent will face Flávio Bolsonaro on October 25. With 99.78% of ballots counted, Lula had 45.1% of valid votes to his opponent’s 47.08%.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the runoff would make it easier to show voters the differences between the two candidates’ platforms. After votes were counted on October 4, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) emerged as his opponent.
Lula presented his social-policy record and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin’s experience governing the country’s most populous state as strengths of their side. He contrasted them with what he called the Bolsonaro family’s “uncertainty” and “dark biography.” Referring to Flávio and his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, Lula said alleged links to militias and organized crime would become a campaign issue and mentioned Banco Master. These were political allegations by Lula, not findings of an investigation.
The president said only his side could offer a future, recalled earlier campaigns against hunger and described education as a path to change. With 99.78% of ballots counted, Lula had 45.1% of valid votes. Flávio finished the first round with 47.08%.
In the first round of the 2022 election, Lula received 48.43% and Jair Bolsonaro 43.2%. The incumbent now enters the runoff with a lower first-round share than he had four years ago.