Lula, Flávio Bolsonaro to face off in second round of Brazilian presidential election

From left, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro. (Photo of Lula by Celso Pupo via Bigstock; screen capture of Bolsonaro via TV Celular Flavio Bolsonaro/YouTube)

SÃO PAULO | President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face off against Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro in the second round of Brazil’s presidential election on Oct. 25 after neither man received more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round that took place on Oct. 4.

Bolsonaro was ahead of Lula by a 47.03-45.16 percent margin with 100 percent of the vote counted.

Lula in 2022 defeated Bolsonaro’s father, then-President Jair Bolsonaro, in that year’s presidential election.

The Brazilian Supreme Court last year sentenced Bolsonaro — who repeatedly targeted LGBTQ Brazilians and other groups while in office — to more than 27 years in prison for his role in an attempted coup that saw thousands of his supporters storm the Congress, presidential palace, and the Supreme Court itself on Jan. 8, 2023. Bolsonaro is currently serving his sentence at his home in Brasília, the country’s capital, because of his poor health. His son has pledged to pardon him if he becomes the country’s next president.

Lula, who leads Brazil’s leftist Workers’ Party, was Brazil’s president from 2003-2010.

Sergio Moro, a judge who Jair Bolsonaro later tapped as his government’s Justice and Public Security Minister, in 2017 sentenced Lula to 9 1/2 years in prison after his conviction on money laundering and corruption charges that stemmed from Operation Car Wash.

The Supreme Court in November 2019 ordered Lula’s release.

A Brazilian Workers’ Party supporter campaigns outside a Metro station in Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema neighborhood on Oct. 3, 2026. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva heads the party. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

VoteLGBT, an organization that seeks to increase LGBTQ representation in Brazilian politics, noted 529 openly LGBTQ candidates ran in this year’s election. More than 100 of them are either transgender or travesti.

The Washington Blade will cover the results of these races when they become available.

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