Brazil’s supreme electoral court on Monday said that the country’s presidential election was “mathematically defined” with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva taking more votes than incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
As 98.8% of voting machines were counted, Lula had 50.8% of votes compared with 49.2% for Bolsonaro, according to data published on the electoral body’s website.
Lula’s winning margin is the closest since 1989, when Brazilians had voted for a president for the first time since the end of the military dictatorship. The previous closest margin was in 2014 when Dilma Rousseff won a second consecutive term by beating Aecio Neves by 51.6 % to 48.4 %.
With the win, Lula has made a dramatic comeback as just three years ago he was jailed over corruption charges. Lulu’s win signals a change in direction for Brazil’s largest economy after a heated campaign that showed extreme polarization.
The result sets up a third term for Lula who campaigned on pledges to reduce inequality and protect the environment while preserving the country’s fiscal health.
