World taz
Runoff election in Brazil: Lula beats Bolsonaro Junior
Brazil's left-wing President Lula wins against Flávio Bolsonaro and defies the shift to the right in Latin America. Election evening was chaotic. more...
Deutsch (original) ·Auto-translated to English
afp/dpa | In the runoff election for the presidency in Brazil, incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva prevailed against his challenger Flávio Bolsonaro and secured a fourth term in office. According to the electoral court, the left-wing head of state received 51.75 percent of the votes in Sunday's ballot, while Bolsonaro, the son of the former right-wing extremist President Jair Bolsonaro, received 48.25 percent of the votes. The election in Latin America's largest economy was seen as a directional decision.
A close race had previously emerged in the runoff election. In addition, voting was extended by two hours due to alleged obstruction of voters due to restrictions on local public transport - and the counting of votes also began late.
Supreme Court judge Cristiano Zanin justified the extension until 7 p.m. local time (11 p.m. CET) in a decision available to the AFP news agency with problems in public transport. He highlighted the “seriousness of the incidents”. Lula justified his call for an extension of voting by saying that buses were taken out of service in several cities on election day.
Bolsonaro had also spoken out in favor of extending voting. He referred to heavy rains in the south and southeast of Brazil, where he enjoys particularly strong support.
Polls had predicted a neck-and-neck race between Lula and Bolsonaro in the runoff election. Bolsonaro surprisingly won the first round of elections at the beginning of October with 47 percent of the vote. Lula got 45 percent. Since then, the election campaign has become even more heated. A few days ago, both candidates requested the cancellation of each other's candidacy due to unfair conditions in important social media communication with potential voters.
The defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro wants to have the runoff election in Brazil canceled because the opening hours of polling stations have been extended by two hours. The right-wing senator and son of former head of state Jair Bolsonaro told journalists that he could not possibly recognize the election results. The Supreme Electoral Court had previously declared the left-wing incumbent Lula the winner of the runoff election.