Brazil has reached this Sunday at 17:00, Brasília time -21:00 in mainland Spain-, the scheduled time to close the voting of the presidential runoff. The totalization of the votes that will decide the dispute between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro now begins. The polling stations with voters waiting in line will continue to serve those people before finishing their activity.
The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) publishes the results as it receives and processes the reports from the electronic ballot boxes. The information will progressively be incorporated into the national count.
Attention is now focused on three figures: the percentage of valid votes for each candidate, the distance between them, and the progress of the counting. The first position may change during the night, especially while a significant part of the polling stations is yet to be incorporated.
Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro contest the Presidency of Brazil
Lula faces this runoff with the aim of continuing in the Presidency. Flávio Bolsonaro, candidate of the Liberal Party, seeks to bring bolsonarism back to the Brazilian Government.
In the first round, Flávio Bolsonaro obtained 47.03% of the valid votes and Lula, 45.16%, according to the results collected by Agência Brasil. This difference serves as a reference point, but it does not carry over to the count of this Sunday: the runoff constitutes a new vote.
The result will depend on the national sum of valid votes. The reading of the night requires observing both the support each candidate retains and their ability to attract voters who chose other options in the first round or who abstained then.
Why the first candidate to appear in the lead may not win
The first results correspond to the ballot boxes whose data are received and processed earlier. They do not constitute a sample designed to proportionally represent the entire Brazilian electorate.
Therefore, an initial advantage must be interpreted along with the percentage counted and the origin of the votes. If the pending territories have a different electoral behavior from those already counted, the distance between the candidates may decrease, increase, or reverse.
It is also advisable to distinguish the percentage of completed polling stations from the volume of votes incorporated: the polling stations do not necessarily have the same number of voters. The most useful tracking combines the progress of the count with the effective votes of each candidacy.
No exit polls: attention focuses on official votes
This second round will not have exit polls, according to information published by UOL and Exame. Both media point to the speed of the official tally and the cost of these studies among the reasons explaining their absence.
The decisive data of the night will therefore be the count from the TSE. The polls published before the voting describe estimates of support, while the scrutiny incorporates votes cast.
The results known in certain foreign countries also do not allow for anticipating the national outcome by themselves. Those votes are part of the election, but their percentages should not be extrapolated to the whole of Brazil.
Where to check the official count of Brazil
The [results portal of the Superior Electoral Court allows following the evolution of the presidential election. To consult this voting, one must select the second round of 2026 and the position of president.
The platform offers the results of the candidates, the completed sections, and the territorial detail. The Results application provides another way to consult from a mobile phone.
During the night, the percentage counted will be essential to place each update. Until the result is resolved, being ahead in the count will mean leading the counted vote, not having yet secured the Presidency.