Brazil election: Flávio Bolsonaro leads first round; Lula faces October 25 runoff

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro led Brazil’s October 4, 2026, presidential vote, but did not win the presidency. With 99.99% of ballot boxes counted early on October 5, Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court reported that Bolsonaro had 47.03% of valid votes, ahead of incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on 45.16%. Because neither candidate secured more than half of the valid votes, they will face each other in a runoff on Sunday, October 25.

What did the first-round count show?

The electoral court’s early-October 5 tally gave Bolsonaro 56,104,268 votes and Lula 53,876,617. That put Bolsonaro ahead by about 2.23 million votes, or 1.87 percentage points. Those figures describe the first-round result; they are not a final decision on who will serve as president after the election.

Bolsonaro, a member of the Liberal Party, is a senator from Rio de Janeiro and the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula, of the Workers’ Party, is seeking reelection. Flávio Bolsonaro is running with vice-presidential candidate Alfredo Gaspar, while Lula’s running mate is Vice President Geraldo Alckmin. The October 25 ballot will therefore decide both the presidency and vice presidency.

Brazil’s rule for an outright first-round presidential win is a majority of valid votes—votes cast for candidates, excluding blank and invalid ballots. Bolsonaro finished first, but his 47.03% fell short of that threshold. Lula also remains in contention because the two highest-placed candidates advance when no one wins a majority.

When is the runoff, and what will voters decide?

The second round is scheduled for October 25, three weeks after the first vote. Instead of choosing from the wider first-round field, voters will choose between Bolsonaro and Lula. The candidate who receives a majority of valid votes in that head-to-head contest will win the presidency, with the winning running mate becoming vice president.

The first-round lead does not carry over as a vote advantage: the October 25 contest is a new vote. People who supported candidates eliminated in the first round can choose either finalist, cast a blank or invalid ballot, or abstain. Eligible voters who did not vote on October 4 can still take part in the runoff; Brazil treats the two rounds separately for voter attendance.

The runoff will not reopen every office contested on October 4. Brazil also voted in the first round for seats in Congress and state legislatures, but those races are not repeated in the second round. Voters in states and the Federal District where no gubernatorial candidate won outright will also choose between the top two candidates for governor on October 25. In places where the governor’s race was settled in the first round, the presidential contest will be the remaining decision.

Voting in Brazil is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Brasília time. For voters following the presidential count, the distinction is straightforward: Bolsonaro won the most votes on October 4; the October 25 result will determine whether he or Lula wins the presidency.