Bolsonaro Takes Surprise Lead in Brazil Presidential Election First Round, Advances to Runoff Against Lula

Bolsonaro Surprises Pollsters with 47.27% of the Vote

In the first round of Brazil's presidential election, Flávio Bolsonaro, the right-leaning Liberal Party (PL) candidate, unexpectedly took first place, surpassing incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the left-wing bloc.

Flavio Bolsonaro, candidate for the Brazilian presidential election. Yonhap News Agency

According to the results of the first-round vote count held on October 4 (local time), Bolsonaro secured 47.27% of the votes, leading Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT), who received 44.88%, and advanced to the runoff as the frontrunner.

However, as no candidate won an outright majority, a final winner will be determined in the runoff scheduled for October 25. Under Brazilian election law, if no candidate obtains more than 50% of the votes in the first round, the top two candidates face off in a runoff to decide the overall winner.

This first-round result completely overturned the predictions of major polling agencies, which had forecast a lead for President Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro surged ahead from the start as ballots were counted first in major cities, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where he has strong support.

Afterwards, he continued to outpace Lula da Silva not only in his traditional strongholds in the southeast but also in most central and northwestern regions, at one point widening the gap to as much as 10 percentage points. While Lula da Silva narrowed the margin in the final stages of the count based on strong support in his traditional base in the northeast, he ultimately failed to reverse the result.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.