Flávio Bolsonaro, the right-wing candidate, unexpectedly defeated the incumbent left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an election Sunday but failed to secure a majority of the vote, setting up a runoff.
Bolsonaro received 47.3 percent of the vote, while other right-wing candidates collectively garnered 5 percent and da Silva 44.8 percent. The results suggest da Silva faces a difficult fight to hold onto power.
Pre-election polling had indicated da Silva would come out on top.
The 45-year-old Bolsonaro is a senator and the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is in prison for orchestrating a coup to overturn his defeat in the 2022 election.
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“Brazil has had enough,” said Flávio Bolsonaro Sunday night after the vote. “This is the end of the era of the Workers’ Party.”
Other members of the Bolsonaro family also did well in the election. Jair Bolsonaro’s wife was elected to the Senate, while another of his sons and his brother won seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Brazil’s Congress.
The second round will be held on October 25.
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