Brazil runoff pits Lula against Flávio Bolsonaro in tight count
The gist
Brazil's runoff between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro went to a two-hour voting extension with the count unfinished.
The result decides whether rightward momentum hands conservatives the presidency.
How it unfolded
- Oct 4, 2026First round: Flávio Bolsonaro took 47.03% (56.1 million valid votes) to Lula's 45.16% (53.9 million), a gap of about 2.2 million votes. Abstention hit 21.08%, about 33.4 million voters, the highest first-round rate since 1989.
- Oct 18, 2026A Vox Brasil poll reported Lula leading 51% to 49%.
- Oct 24, 2026Polls by Datafolha and Quaest both gave Flávio Bolsonaro 51% of voting intentions to Lula's 49%.