Key Takeaways

  • Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro entered Brazil's presidential runoff tied at 50 per cent of valid votes in the final Datafolha poll.
  • Flávio Bolsonaro led the first round with 47.04 per cent, ahead of Lula's 45.15 per cent.
  • About 158.7 million Brazilians are eligible to vote, with electronic results expected within hours after polls close.

Brazilians are voting today in one of the closest presidential elections in the country's history — a runoff between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, with final polls showing the two men dead even.

How we got here

In the first round on October 4, neither candidate won the majority needed to avoid a runoff. According to the official count by Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party finished first with 47.04 per cent of the vote (56,098,129 votes), ahead of Lula of the Workers' Party at 45.15 per cent (53,845,563 votes) — a gap of about 2.25 million votes, the narrowest first-round margin on record.

The final Datafolha poll before today's vote put both candidates at 50 per cent of valid votes. History is against the incumbent: no candidate who finished second in the first round has ever gone on to win a Brazilian presidential runoff since the return of democracy.

The candidates

Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth term as president of Latin America's largest country. His challenger, Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, is a senator and the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence under house arrest after being convicted of plotting a coup following his 2022 election defeat. Flávio has pledged to pardon his father if elected.

What to watch tonight

About 158.7 million Brazilians are eligible to vote, and voting is mandatory. Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Brasília time, and the TSE will begin publishing the electronic count as soon as polls close. Brazil's voting system usually produces a clear result within hours. Voters in five states and the Federal District are also choosing governors today.

Sources

Photo: Senado Federal / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) — file photo of Brazilians voting at an electronic ballot box.

Sources