According to the Associated Press, on the evening of October 4 local time, the Brazilian High Electoral Court announced that since no candidate achieved the required 50% or more of the total votes in the first round of voting, the presidential election in Brazil will proceed to a runoff election.
The son of the former president, Flavio Bolsonaro, who is a candidate for the Liberal Party, and the current Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is a candidate for the Labor Party, will compete in the second round on October 25. The next presidential term will begin on January 5, 2027.
According to The Guardian, as of 9:20 PM Brazilian time, 99.2% of the votes from the first round have been counted. In that round, Roberto Botoñaro received 47.18% of the votes, while Luiz Inácio Lula received 44.98%.
The President of Brazil is elected directly by the people. Each voter's vote has equal significance, and there is no electoral college system. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the valid votes in the first round of voting, then the two candidates with the highest votes will participate in a second round of elections three weeks later.
The Brazilian president can only serve for a maximum of two consecutive terms. Therefore, if Lula wins this election, he will not be able to participate in the 2030 elections. In 2018, Lula was imprisoned due to corruption charges. After serving 580 days in prison, the related convictions were overturned.
Lula's main opponent, Roberto Bebboso, is 45 years old and a lawyer. He was a federal senator from Rio de Janeiro. The older Bebboso was sentenced to 27 years in prison after failing to plan a coup following his defeat in the 2022 elections. However, he still supports his son's campaign, hoping that once his son is elected, he will be able to regain his freedom.
The report mentioned that Minas Gerais is one of the key states that deserve attention. With a population of 21 million, this state serves as a benchmark for Brazil.
Since Brazil introduced democracy in the 1980s, no presidential candidate has been able to win the national election after losing the state of Minas Gerais. In 2018, Lula Bolsonaro was elected president with a margin of over 1.7 million votes in this state. Four years later, Rousseff reclaimed the state with a narrow margin of less than 50,000 votes, also winning the national election.
