Brazil election runoff: Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro make final pitches before Sunday vote
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro took their final campaign appeals to the streets on Saturday, October 24, before Brazil’s closely contested presidential runoff. Lula drew supporters to rallies in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, while Bolsonaro campaigned in Minas Gerais and Rio. Voters choose between them on Sunday, October 25.
The final rallies followed a first round in which Bolsonaro finished ahead but neither candidate won enough votes to avoid a runoff. The result will decide whether Lula secures another term or the Bolsonaro family returns to the presidency.
Final rallies in São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio
Lula began Saturday with supporters on Rio’s Copacabana beach before heading to São Paulo, where a large crowd gathered along Paulista Avenue. He argued that voters wanted change that would move Brazil forward, not a return to the past.
Bolsonaro joined a motorcycle caravan in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, then took part in a march in his home state of Rio de Janeiro. In a campaign video, he urged supporters to see the vote as a decision about the country’s future.
Minas Gerais has been a focus for both campaigns. Bolsonaro led Lula there in the October 4 first round, and the state has backed the winner of every Brazilian presidential election since the country’s return to democracy in the 1980s.
The candidates also faced each other in a final televised debate on Friday. Their closing efforts sought to reach undecided voters and persuade supporters to turn out after a campaign shaped in part by concerns about the cost of living and crime.
A narrow race after the first round
Bolsonaro, a senator from the Liberal Party and the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, received 47.03% of valid votes in the first round, according to Brazil’s electoral court. Lula, the Workers’ Party incumbent, received 45.16%. The difference was about 2.2 million votes.
Neither candidate won a majority of valid votes, sending the two highest finishers to the October 25 runoff. The candidate who receives more valid votes on Sunday wins. Blank and invalid ballots do not count toward either candidate’s total.
Recent polls have shown a close contest, but the first-round figures are votes already cast, not a forecast of the runoff. Turnout could matter: voters who missed the first round are still allowed to vote on Sunday. More than 158.7 million people are eligible to take part in the election.
When Brazil’s election results are expected
Polling stations open at 8 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. Brasília time on Sunday, October 25. Brazil’s electoral court says it will begin publishing results from 5 p.m. Brasília time—4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time in the United States.
Those first figures will be partial results, not necessarily a declared winner. As electronic votes are added to the national count, voters can follow the totals through the electoral court’s results service. Brazil’s electronic voting system typically produces a result within hours of polls closing.
The presidential choice is being made nationwide. Voters in Acre, Amazonas, Espírito Santo, Tocantins and the Federal District will also choose a governor in a runoff. For the two presidential campaigns, Saturday’s crowds were the last chance to make their case before voters settle the contest at the ballot box.
