Brazil Heads To Runoff On October 25 As Lula, Flávio Bolsonaro Fail To Win Majority

Brazil is heading to a presidential runoff on October 25 after neither incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva nor Senator Flávio Bolsonaro secured the majority needed to win Sunday’s election outright.

With 99.8 per cent of votes counted, Brazil’s electoral court in Brasília said Bolsonaro had just over 56 million votes, compared with 53.7 million for Lula. The next president is scheduled to take office on January 5.

The runoff will pit the 80-year-old Lula, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, against 45-year-old Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The winner will lead Latin America’s biggest economy and represent a population of more than 200 million.

The election is also being closely watched internationally. Analysts say a Bolsonaro victory could increase US influence in Latin America, while a Lula win would likely see Brazil maintain its distance from Washington and deepen its ties with China.

The road ahead will not be easy for either candidate. Both Lula and Bolsonaro now have three weeks to court moderate voters who did not back them in the first round.

“Brazil wants change, that’s the reading of what happened today,” Bolsonaro said after the results. “It’s the end of the Workers’ Party era,” he added, referring to Lula’s political party.

Lula, meanwhile, struck a confident tone about the runoff. “Tomorrow we start a new campaign,” he said. “I am very good in the knockout stage. We will see who has the best plan.”

Bolsonaro later addressed the press and a small group of supporters outside his home in Brasilia, including people wearing Brazil’s green-and-yellow jerseys and a woman wrapped in an Israeli flag, the Associated Press reported.

Candidates who finished behind the two frontrunners could play a role in determining the runoff outcome. Augusto Cury, who came third with 3.4 million votes, said he would not endorse either candidate.

Ronaldo Caiado and Renan Santos, who together secured about 5.3 million votes, have also previously said they would not back either contender.