Lula Wins Brazil Election After Ex-Lawyer Judge Extends Voting

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won Brazil's presidential runoff. With almost every vote counted, the 80-year-old leftist took 51.8 percent against 48.2 percent for right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro. But the win came wrapped in controversy: on Sunday evening a Supreme Court justice who used to be Lula's personal defense lawyer overruled the election authorities and kept the polls open longer.

With more than 99.9 percent of voting machines counted, Lula had about 64.2 million votes to Bolsonaro's 59.8 million, Reuters reports. Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday, becomes the first president in modern Brazilian history elected to a fourth term.

It's a surprise. Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, led narrowly in almost every final poll. He carried the right's banner because his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is barred from office and serving a 27-year prison sentence over the turmoil around the 2022 to 2023 transfer of power.

Lula has his own past. He spent more than 500 days in jail for corruption before the Supreme Court threw out his convictions ahead of the last election.

Comeback win

Bolsonaro won the first round on October 4 with 47.0 percent to Lula's 45.2. Since Brazil returned to democracy, no runner-up from the first round had ever flipped the result in the runoff. Until now.

Between rounds Lula promised bigger welfare payments and tax cuts for low earners and went hard after his opponent personally. Turnout climbed to almost 81 percent, and Lula closed the gap in his strongholds in the poorer northeast.

Extra time

Election day itself blew up over the rules. Just before closing time, Lula's campaign asked the Supreme Court to extend voting, citing a shortage of buses and public transport problems.

Bolsonaro's side had also asked for local extensions in towns hit by heavy rain and power cuts. But Brazil's top electoral court and the election prosecutor both said no to keeping polls open nationwide.

Justice Cristiano Zanin stepped in anyway and ordered two more hours of voting at every polling station that hadn't yet closed. The count was paused and many stations had already shut, causing chaos.

Here's what has the opposition furious: Zanin was Lula's defense lawyer in the corruption cases. After helping get those convictions overturned, he was appointed to the Supreme Court by Lula himself in 2023.

"A shameful decision by a Supreme Court judge who was the current president's lawyer," wrote senator Rogério Marinho, Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign chief, on X.

Split country

The result shows a Brazil cut down the middle. Lula's supporters celebrated in red in São Paulo, while anger on the right has grown after years of online censorship and court moves against conservative politicians.

And Lula won't have it easy. In the parallel congressional vote, Bolsonaro's party and its conservative allies won solid majorities in both houses, giving the right real power to block his agenda for the next four years. Read our pre-election report on the polls.