To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video With votes being counted in Brazil following the presidential election on Sunday, populist Senator Flavio Bolsonaro was leading the race ahead of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro seeks to continue the right-wing populist movement started by his father, Jair Bolsonaro, while Lula is seeking his fourth non-consecutive term. With nearly 91% of the ballots processed, Flavio Bolsonaro has received 48% of the vote.
Lula has just over 44%, according to the electoral court. Bolsonaro is monitoring the vote count in Brasilia, the country's capital, while Lula is following it from Sao Paulo. Because Brazil uses electronic voting machines, final results are expected to be available within several hours of the polls closing.
You can watch our live coverage of the Brazil election results on YouTube or in the livestream window above this article. Lula and Bolsonaro wrapped up their campaigns on Saturday in Brazil's economic powerhouse state of Sao Paulo. The 80-year-old Lula capped off his campaign with a tour through the city of Sao Paulo, vowing to "defeat the far right." Organizers said some 150,000 of Lula's supporters turned up for the rally in Brazil's largest city.
Lula has campaigned on continuing his left-leaning Workers' Party platform, comprising welfare programs, state-funded development and income redistribution. "The people will have to choose between strengthening the democratic regime and barbarism ... between progress and backwardness," he said as he cast his ballot on Sunday. Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, has served as the Liberal Party's senator for Rio de Janeiro since 2019.
On Saturday, he led a motorcycle parade through Sao Paulo's countryside cities of Santa Barbara d'Oeste and Americana. He also held up a portrait of his father, while the crowd shouted "mito" — a Portuguese word for "legend" that Jair Bolsonaro's supporters use to refer to him. The right-wing Bolsonaro has campaigned on hardline security policies and tax cuts, emphasizing high cost of living under Lula, who he has slammed as "incompetent." "Brazil needs change," the son of the former president said as he cast his vote.
"Brazil cannot bear any more suffering, such as high taxes, so many women killed." The elder Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence in prison for attempting a coup to overturn his loss to Lula in the 2022 presidential election. Flavio Bolsonaro has vowed to pardon his father if elected. Lula's team has cast the Bolsonaro movement as a threat to Brazil's sovereignty, pointing to Flavio and Jair's ties with US President Donald Trump, who last year slapped a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports in response to Jair Bolsonaro's coup trial.
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