The ultraright candidate of the Liberal Party (PL) for the Presidency of Brazil and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio Bolsonaro, has fallen for the first time below the 50% support threshold, standing at 49.58%, with 64.81% of the ballots counted in this first round of the Brazilian elections.
At the same time, his opponent and outgoing head of state, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, currently totals 42.25% of the ballots. If this dynamic continues, neither of the two candidates would reach the absolute majority required to be directly proclaimed, which would lead to a second round, set for next October 25.
The still provisional figures come from the counting of 323,539 electoral sections out of a total of 499,248 enabled by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the highest authority responsible for organizing and supervising the voting process.
According to the latest official report, participation reaches 79.08%, with 1.8% of blank votes and 2.77% of null ballots. In Brazil, voting is voluntary from the age of 16 and becomes mandatory for citizens between 18 and 70 years old.