Leftist Lula wins fourth term in close race, claims right-wing candidate is ``invalid'' - Brazilian presidential run-off

[São Paulo Current Affairs] A run-off vote for the presidential election was held in Brazil on the 25th, and leftist President Lula (80), who is seeking a total of four terms, defeated pro-American right-wing senator Flavio Bolsonaro (45), the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, and won reelection. He will take office on January 5 next year for a four-year term. In Latin America, there has been a continued return to the right due to the worsening security situation, and the election results in Brazil, a regional power, have been closely watched.

According to the High Electoral Court (TSE), the central electoral body, Mr. Lula received 51.79% of the valid votes and Mr. Bolsonaro received 48.21%. Bolsonaro was in the lead in the first round of voting on the 4th, and major opinion polls before the run-off also showed him with a slight lead.

Voting was scheduled to close at 5 p.m. on the 25th (5 a.m. on the 26th, Japan time), but it was extended by two hours after Mr. Lula complained to the TSE that ``traffic congestion is making it difficult to access the polling place.'' It is unusual for voting hours to be extended across the country and could affect the finalization of the election results.

In his victory speech in Sao Paulo, the country's largest city, Lula stressed that, with a close race in mind, ``I will conduct politics for the benefit of all 215 million Brazilians,'' and called for national reconciliation. By defeating Bolsonaro, who is close to the Trump administration, he boasted that ``this election showed that Brazil will not accept becoming someone's backyard.''

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro, speaking in the capital Brasilia, argued that extending voting hours undermined the fairness of the election. "There is no way we will recognize the results of the vote. We demand that the election be invalidated," he said.