Brazil's historic 2022 presidential election will likely go to a runoff on Oct. 30, after former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — the leftist who led in pre-election polls — fell short of the 50% he needed to win outright against extremist incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
With 98% of the vote counted at 8:45 p.m. ET, Lula led by a margin of more than 5 million votes, with 48%, or 55.7 million votes, to Bolsonaro's 43.6%, or roughly 50.5 million votes.
BREAKING 🇧🇷: Lula defeats Bolsonaro in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election by over 5,000,000 votes.
— Progressive International (@ProgIntl) October 3, 2022
There are fears that Bolsonaro, the right-wing incumbent, will not accept defeat after he warned that he would only leave office if he's "killed, jailed, or victorious" and has called on his base to "go to war" if the vote is "stolen."
Bolsonaro took an early lead as results started coming in. But as in 2014, when Lula's leftist party last won a presidential election, results began to shift after the early hours of vote-counting. Results from Brazil's poorer northeastern regions, Lula's stronghold, take longer to be counted.
Lula eventually took the lead after 70% of the vote had been counted.
We are expecting Lula to address the media soon, once the election result is confirmed. A bleak night for the left in many ways, with a succession of Bolsonarista victories and a tighter result than polls predicted. Pollsters said 50/36. Looks like ending 48/43 pic.twitter.com/DVZCLxmjoe
— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) October 3, 2022
Polls closed at 5 p.m. local time in Brazil (2000 GMT or 4 p.m. ET). Official results can be found here: latest Brazil Election Results
Polls are closed in Brazil. No one doubts Lula is ahead. What is in doubt is whether Trump’s authoritarian ally—Bolsonaro—will accept defeat. This is huge issue for Brazil, and the United States. The U.S. must send a clear signal of support for democracy.
— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) October 2, 2022
https://t.co/JpVapcPp0j
