The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has won in the second round of the presidential elections held this Sunday, achieving reelection for a new term at the head of the South American country after defeating the far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro by a narrow margin, who had led the first round.
According to the official data released by the Brazilian electoral authority, with 99.89% of the sections already counted, Lula has 51.77% of the valid votes, which amounts to 64.1 million ballots, while his opponent, representative of the Liberal Party (PL) and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, reaches 48.23% of the votes, with 59.7 million votes. The turnout in this second round has been 80.79%, compared to an abstention of 19.21%.
With this result, the progressive leader manages to reverse the setback suffered in the first round held at the beginning of the month, when the far-right candidate won clearly. Thus, Lula signs an unprecedented event since the return of democracy in Brazil, becoming the first candidate who, after finishing second in the initial round, finally achieves the Presidency in the runoff.
The electoral day this Sunday has been marked by incidents in public transport, which hindered the movement of voters. Following complaints from the campaigns —especially Lula da Silva's—, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Brazil decided to extend the voting hours by two additional hours, until 7:00 PM (local time).
The counting reveals the intense polarization that runs through the South American giant, with more than 156 million citizens called to the polls divided between the social continuity project promoted by Lula and the agenda of cuts, privatizations, and tough security measures defended by Bolsonaro.
After a campaign heavily conditioned by the battle in the digital realm and the debate over the influence of social networks, the reelected president will have to govern with a Congress with a conservative majority and face the challenge of reuniting a deeply divided country.