Lula or Bolsonaro... Brazilian presidential runoff begins

Vote from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.... The results will likely come out as early as this evening.

The biggest point to watch is whether the right-wing wave in Latin America will continue.

(Sao Paulo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Song Gwang-ho = The presidential runoff election to select Brazil's next leader began at approximately 500,000 polling stations across the country at 8 a.m. on the 25th (Brasilia time).

This presidential election is very meaningful in that it is a 'first' confrontation, and it is also a watershed that will determine the continuity of the blue tide (right-wing ruling wave) in Central and South America.

First of all, whether the left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula dasiouba or the right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro wins, both will record a 'first'.

If President Lula wins, he will become the first president to serve a total of four (non-consecutive) terms since democratization in 1989.

If candidate Bolsonaro wins, he will become the first father-son president in Brazilian history. His father, Jair Bolsonaro, served as president from 2019 to 2022 and ran for re-election but lost to President Lula.

In addition, if President Lula wins, he will put a stop to the right-wing trend that has recently been sweeping Latin America. There has been no case of a right-wing candidate losing in a Latin American presidential election since 2025, following the inauguration of the second term of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The general trend of the right-wing wave in the region can be clearly sensed in this Brazilian presidential election. Since President Lula was defeated by candidate Bolsonaro in the first round of voting, he has not achieved a single reversal in the opinion polls. Since the adoption of the direct presidential system in 1989, there has yet to be a case where the candidate who ranked first in the first round lost in the runoff.

However, in various opinion polls, candidate Bolsonaro is slightly ahead within the margin of error, so it is still too early to predict the winner. Polha Sao Paulo, a leading local daily newspaper, predicted that victory or defeat would depend on which candidate's supporters actually gather at the voting booth in greater numbers.

To participate in today's runoff election, you must arrive at your designated polling place by 5 p.m. Brazil has adopted a compulsory voting system, so voters between the ages of 18 and 70 who do not participate in voting without a valid reason are subject to disadvantages such as fines.

The amount of the fine is not large, about 1,000 won in Korean currency, but non-voters face substantial social disadvantages, such as being restricted from issuing passports or ID cards and not being able to take entrance exams for public institutions or be appointed to public positions.

The total number of voters in this election is approximately 158.7 million. Brazil has the largest territory and largest population in Central and South America, but because it has introduced an electronic voting system, the vote counting speed is faster than other countries in the region. The outline of the next president-elect is expected to be revealed as early as this evening.