Lula Regains Lead in Brazil Runoff as Count Pauses for Voting Extension

With approximately 50% of the ballots counted, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva overtook Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in Sunday's presidential runoff. The lead change occurred at 8:30 p.m. Brasília time. This shift followed a late decision by the Supreme Court to extend voting hours in select areas.

The count initially favored the right-wing candidate, a common trend in Brazilian elections where conservative supporters vote early. Lula began the day with a deficit but gained ground as results arrived from the northeastern states. These regions, which are Lula's political stronghold, reported high turnout that pollsters attributed to his resurgence. Andrei Roman, CEO of pollster AtlasIntel, told Reuters that Lula would be re-elected, a view echoed by Lula's allies on social media before the official declaration.

The disruption stemmed from a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin, who previously served as Lula's lawyer. Zanin granted the campaign's request to extend voting, citing public transportation issues in three cities in the state of Bahia. The decision arrived near the 5 p.m. closing time, creating confusion at polling stations. In a subsequent order, Zanin allowed open stations to remain open for two additional hours while stations that had already closed could proceed to tally their votes.

The Superior Electoral Court, known as the TSE, paused the nationwide count for two hours to implement this ruling. Legal experts noted that the extension could trigger future challenges. Vera Chemim, a constitutional lawyer in São Paulo, told Reuters that the losing side might argue that voters were unable to cast ballots despite the extended deadline. This uncertainty follows the 2022 election, where former President Jair Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat and later received a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, the brother of candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, publicly questioned the decision during a YouTube live stream. He argued that the Supreme Court should not rule on matters overseen by the electoral court. He stated that the move did not inspire credibility and asked, "Strange, isn't it?" Flávio Bolsonaro had also sought an extension in at least three states due to bad weather, while Lula requested extensions in at least nine states after alleging that officials reduced bus services.

Lula described the situation as an abominable event before Zanin's ruling. A court in Bahia ordered the arrest of a senior transportation official in Salvador over allegations that he directed a reduction in the city's bus fleet on election day. President Donald Trump of the United States declined to endorse a candidate, telling reporters in Washington, "I don't want to get into that, but we are watching."