The far-right candidate of the Liberal Party (PL) for the Presidency of Brazil and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio Bolsonario, has won the first round of the elections in Brazil with 47.17% of the votes. His rival and outgoing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is four points behind (45.00%).
Since none of the candidates achieve the absolute majority necessary to be directly elected, a second round will be held between these two candidates on October 25 to elect the future president of Brazil.
Bolsonario, with more than 55 million votes, has surpassed Lula by around 2.5 million votes. The PL candidate has won in the three states with the largest number of voters: Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, winning the latter two with more than 50% of the votes (53.02% and 51.93%, respectively).
Other members of the Bolsonaro family achieve representation
Another of the results of the night has come in the Senate, a chamber in which the former first lady and wife of Jair Bolsonaro, Michelle Bolsonaro, has been elected as senator for the Federal District, in Brasilia, by obtaining 29% of the votes in the legislative elections.
The Bolsonaro family has achieved three other positions in these elections. The second son of the former president, Carlos Bolsonaro, has been elected as the second senator in the state of Santa Catarina, while Jair Renan Bolsonaro – also the son of the former president – obtained a seat in the Chamber of Deputies for that same state and Renato Bolsonaro – Jair’s brother – has been elected as a federal representative for Sao Paulo.
These data now appear as definitive with 99.18% counted and with 495,237 electoral sections totaled out of the 499,248 enabled by the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), the highest body responsible for the process.
According to the latest official bulletin, participation stands at 78.93%, with 1.84% of blank votes and 2.93% of null votes. In Brazil, the right to vote is optional from the age of 16 and mandatory for citizens between 18 and 70 years old.
Lula recognizes that the result in the first round is “unexpected”
The Brazilian president and candidate for reelection, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, recognized this Sunday that the result of the first round of the elections is “unexpected” and took the opportunity to harshly criticize his rival Flávio Bolsonaro.
“I was convinced that I was going to win the elections in the first round,” he declared in a central hotel in the city of São Paulo, after obtaining 45.1% of the votes compared to Bolsonaro’s 47.0%, a result that no previous poll had predicted.
Despite the surprise, the progressive leader, who is contesting his seventh presidential election, has said he feels confident in a final victory in the tiebreaker round on October 25, and has claimed to be “very good” in the face-to-face.
