# Lula wins fourth term, defeats Flávio Bolsonaro

> Brazil's president stages unprecedented runoff comeback to secure a historic fourth term.
- Title: Lula wins fourth term, defeats Flávio Bolsonaro | Shortify
- Summary: Brazil's president stages unprecedented runoff comeback to secure a historic fourth term.
- Keywords: luiz inácio lula da silva, flávio bolsonaro, brazil presidential election, workers' party, runoff election, brazilian politics, brazil, Folha de S.Paulo
- Source: Folha de S.Paulo — https://redir.folha.com.br/redir/online//rss091/*https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2026/10/lula-turns-election-around-defeats-flavio-bolsonaro-and-wins-unprecedented-fourth-term.shtml
- Published: 2026-10-25T22:23:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: luiz inácio lula da silva, flávio bolsonaro, brazil presidential election, workers' party, runoff election, brazilian politics, brazil, news, politics
## Lula defeats Bolsonaro in runoff
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, eighty, defeated Senator Flávio Bolsonaro on Sunday, October twenty-fifth, winning reelection to a fourth term, unprecedented in Brazilian history.
## The final vote count
With ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent of polling stations reporting, Lula had fifty-one point seventy-eight percent of valid votes against Flávio's forty-eight point twenty-two percent in the runoff.
## Historic comeback from second place
Lula finished second in the first round, won by Flávio with forty-seven point zero three percent to Lula's forty-five point one six percent.This is the first runoff turnaround since direct elections returned in nineteen eighty-nine.
## Campaign shifts after first round
After the first-round loss, Lula changed campaign leadership and handed digital strategy to Congressman André Janones, who created the WhatsApp channel Exército do Lula with more than ten million followers.
## Voting extended after PT complaint
Brazil's Supreme Federal Court extended voting by two hours after the PT campaign complained of obstacles to public transportation in ten states. Cristiano Zanin, Lula's former lawyer, ordered the extension.
## Challenges ahead for Lula's term
Lula has two months to ease political and economic tensions. He faces a divided judiciary and a strengthened right-wing bloc in the Senate where impeachment proceedings against Supreme Court justices could be introduced.
## Key takeaway

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated Senator Flávio Bolsonaro with fifty-one point seventy-eight percent of valid votes to win an unprecedented fourth term as Brazil's president.