Lula Regains Lead in Brazil Runoff as Court-Ordered Vote Extension Pauses Counting

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva now leads Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential runoff.

The lead emerged with approximately 50% of the vote counted at 8:30 p.m. Brasília time on Sunday. Ballots from Lula’s northeastern stronghold arrived in high volume, shifting the early advantage that Bolsonaro had held. Pollster AtlasIntel CEO Andrei Roman told Reuters that Lula would be re-elected, while Lula’s allies began declaring victory on social media before the federal electoral court made an official announcement.

The shift in results followed a legal intervention by Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin. Zanin, a former lawyer for Lula, granted a request to extend voting hours due to reported public transportation issues in three cities in Bahia. The ruling arrived near the 5 p.m. official closing time, creating immediate confusion at polling stations. In a subsequent order, Zanin specified that stations already closed could begin tallying, while those still open could accept voters for two additional hours. The TSE, Brazil’s electoral court, paused the national count for two hours to manage the delay.

The extension dispute has introduced complexity into a process already strained by the 2022 election aftermath. In that cycle, former President Jair Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat, leading his supporters to storm government buildings. He later received a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup. Constitutional lawyer Vera Chemim in São Paulo noted that the longer voting hours and transportation allegations could trigger legal challenges. She stated that the losing side might contest the outcome by arguing that voters were unable to participate despite the extended deadline.

Questions about procedural authority also arose during the broadcast. Senator Eduardo Bolsonaro, the brother of Flávio Bolsonaro, questioned the Supreme Court’s involvement on a YouTube live stream. He described the move as strange and said it did not inspire credibility. Before Zanin’s final decision, Lula had claimed something abominable was happening in the election. His campaign alleged that officials in at least nine states cut election-day public transportation. A court in Bahia ordered the arrest of a senior transportation official in Salvador over allegations that he reduced the city’s bus fleet.

Flávio Bolsonaro also sought an extension in at least three states, citing bad weather. Lula’s team views this runoff as an opportunity to halt a conservative trend in Latin America. Reuters reported on a campaign within the US State Department aimed at helping the Bolsonaro family return to power. President Donald Trump has not endorsed a candidate and declined to predict a winner, telling reporters in Washington that the US is watching.