{"id":7011,"date":"2026-10-05T02:58:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T02:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7011"},"modified":"2026-10-05T02:58:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T02:58:02","slug":"brazils-presidential-race-three-key-takeaways-from-the-first-round-elections-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7011","title":{"rendered":"Brazil\u2019s presidential race: Three key takeaways from the first round | Elections News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Brazil\u2019s closely watched presidential election<\/a> is heading to a second round between leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, prolonging a deeply polarised race with major implications for the country and the wider region.<\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s electoral court confirmed on Sunday that the two candidates will advance to a run-off on October 25 after neither won the majority needed to secure the presidency outright, with Bolsonaro leading at 55.8 million votes to Lula\u2019s almost 53.2 million.<\/p>\n

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Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n

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Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth, non-consecutive term after a political career<\/a> spanning nearly five decades.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro, 45, is the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and is trying to return his father\u2019s right-wing movement to power, even as the former president serves a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

The election comes at a pivotal time for Latin America\u2019s largest economy. Brazilians are grappling with concerns over crime and the cost of living, while the country faces an increasingly tense relationship with the United States. The vote is also being closely watched across a region that has shifted sharply to the right in a series of recent elections.<\/p>\n

While a second round was widely expected, the first-round result did not play out quite as pollsters had predicted.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the key takeaways from the election so far.<\/p>\n

Brazil is heading for another Lula-Bolsonaro run-off<\/h2>\n

With nearly 99 percent of votes reported, Bolsonaro had about 47 percent of valid votes, compared with 44.9 percent for Lula. Neither reached the 50 percent threshold needed to win in the first round.<\/p>\n

That sets up another Lula-Bolsonaro showdown, four years after Lula narrowly defeated former President Jair Bolsonaro. This time, he will face the former president\u2019s eldest son.<\/p>\n

The race could be extremely close, as polling ahead of Sunday\u2019s vote suggested Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro were roughly tied<\/a> in a potential run-off.<\/p>\n

That puts voters who backed one of the other 10 candidates in the first round at the centre of the fight for the presidency over the next three weeks.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo Caiado and Renan Santos, who together received about 5.3 million votes, have previously said they will not endorse either candidate in the run-off.<\/p>\n

Flavio Bolsonaro did better than polls suggested<\/h2>\n

Most polls leading up to election day predicted the race would be pushed into the second round, but had Lula finishing the first round ahead of Bolsonaro.<\/p>\n

Instead, Bolsonaro emerged with a lead of two percentage points, raising questions about why the final polls underestimated his support.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Bolsonaro said the results showed that Brazilians want change.<\/p>\n

Analysts told the Reuters news agency that Bolsonaro may have benefitted from \u201cprotest votes\u201d from people who may have preferred another candidate but saw defeating Lula as the priority. Many had been expected to shift their support to Bolsonaro only in a second round, meaning this could have consequences for his support in three weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protest vote foreshadows what is to come in the run-off,\u201d political analyst Rafael Favetti told Reuters. \u201cWhile this should benefit Flavio Bolsonaro now, his growth potential in the second round drops precisely because that support has already been front-loaded.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the results came in, Lula said the votes were \u201cunexpected\u201d but that he would come back stronger in the run-off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI admit, I was convinced I would win in the first round. The game is about to start. We are in extra time. In extra time, we will win over the Brazilian people,\u201d the 80-year-old said.<\/p>\n

The right had a strong night in Congress, too<\/h2>\n

Bolsonaro\u2019s surprising performance in the first round was part of a broader show of strength for Brazil\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Right-wing parties, led by Bolsonaro\u2019s Liberal Party (PL), were performing strongly in both houses of Congress, with the PL on track to emerge as the largest force in the Chamber of Deputies and making gains in the Senate.<\/p>\n

This included victories for other members of the Bolsonaro family<\/a>, including former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro, Flavio\u2019s stepmother, who won a Senate seat in the Federal District, her first elected office.<\/p>\n

His brother, Carlos Bolsonaro, was elected to the Senate in Santa Catarina.<\/p>\n

The results show that the political movement built around former President Jair Bolsonaro \u2013 known as \u201cbolsonarista\u201d \u2013 remains a powerful electoral force, even with the former president barred from running himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that far-right candidates for the legislature have exceeded all expectations suggests a deeper popular grounding for the bolsonarista project than many expected,\u201d Andre Pagliarini, an assistant professor of history and international studies at Louisiana State University and author of a book on Lula, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cMillions of Brazilians right now evidently feel the right best reflects their values and vision for the future,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The congressional results matter beyond election night, too. Both houses were already dominated by conservative lawmakers, and a stronger right-wing presence could make it even harder for Lula to push through his agenda if he wins another term.<\/p>\n

A Bolsonaro victory, meanwhile, could give him more room to pursue his own priorities, including his pledge to seek an amnesty for his father.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Brazil\u2019s closely watched presidential election is heading to a second round between leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, prolonging a deeply polarised race with major implications for the country and the wider region. Brazil\u2019s electoral court confirmed on Sunday that the two candidates will advance to a run-off on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t