Brazil's presidency goes to an October 25 runoff between Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula
Flávio Bolsonaro led Lula by 47.03% to 45.16% in Brazil's near-complete first-round count; neither secured the majority needed to avoid an October 25 runoff.
Brazil's presidential election will be decided in a second round between Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party and incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party.
With 99.99% of voting machines tallied in the electoral court's October 5 snapshot, Bolsonaro had 47.03% of valid votes and Lula 45.16%. [1]
The 1.87-percentage-point lead establishes who finished ahead, not who will govern. Brazil requires more than half of valid votes to elect a president; blank and invalid ballots are excluded. The first-round shares cannot predict how voters will choose between the two finalists. [3]
The runoff is October 25. Voting within Brazil runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Brasília time. [2]
A useful comparison is already available: the electoral court indexes both candidates' filed government plans by subject, with links to the relevant PDF pages. Compare their proposals on the same issue—public finances, health or energy—while keeping campaign commitments separate from policies already enacted. [4]
Take it further
Compare the finalists' filed plans Public, Portuguese-language plans and subject indexes; no registration required. Compare equivalent topics in both plans.
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- Brazil electoral court · Presidential first-round result
Published October 5 at 00:29, updated 00:36; count snapshot 00:11 with 99.99% tallied. Article does not label the clock's timezone.
- Brazil electoral court · Election dates and voting hours
Official election FAQ checked October 5: October 25 runoff; 08:00–17:00 Brasília time within Brazil.
- Brazil electoral court · How the runoff works
Background explanation checked October 5; more than half of valid votes, excluding blank and invalid ballots, is required.
- Brazil electoral court · Filed government plans
Public index and both finalists' subject indexes opened October 5; proposals, not independent assessments.
- Le Monde · Reporting from Brazil
October 5, 10:44 Paris time; independent reporting confirms both vote shares. Used for corroboration only.
Images & figures
First-round valid-vote shares, with 99.99% tallied in the TSE's October 5 snapshot. The remainder, 7.81%, is calculated from the rounded shares. It represents votes for other candidates, not a forecast of transfers in the runoff.
Euangelion · original chart from TSE results · Source · Usage terms