🔴 Brazil presidential election heads to runoff with Bolsonaro ahead of Lula

Brazilians voted Sunday in a high-stakes presidential election pitting incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro at a moment when the region is shifting to the right in line with the Trump administration. Bolsonaro, 45, is the son of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro who is serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt and an ally of US President Donald Trump.

Lula, who at 80 is one of the world’s oldest heads of state, is running in his seventh presidential election and has strengthened Brazil's ties with Beijing. Trump allies have fared well in recent elections in Latin America, including in Argentina, Colombia, Honduras and Peru. If none of the 12 presidential candidates gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two will head to a runoff on Oct. 25 in Latin America’s economic powerhouse.

Brazil's nearly 159 million eligible voters will also elect 27 state governors, members of state legislatures, all 513 federal members of the lower house of congress and 54 of the country’s 81 senators in Sunday’s vote. Sunday with those still in line able to vote and tallies started rolling in within the hour. In the last presidential election, the two candidates who advanced out of the first round were mathematically determined at about 8 p.m.

Brasilia time with nearly 99% of votes counted. While the once widely popular Lula saw his approval ratings plummet during his third term, standing up to the US has given him a boost. And he still enjoys a strong base of supporters who credit his social policies for improving millions of Brazilians’ lives.

The incumbent president has often spoken about risks of US intervention in the Brazilian elections after the Trump administration imposed high tariffs against Brazilian exports, revoked the visa of the country’s ambassador and sanctioned a Supreme Courtjustice who chaired the investigation that eventually sentenced Jair Bolsonaro, Lula's predecessor. Lula told journalists after voting Sunday that he needs “to do double of what we have done” if reelected, and expressed confidence in a first-round win. But the incumbent faces a tough battle because of an affordability crisis and a corruption scandal that ensnared the same justice who led the investigation into Bolsonaro.

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