Flávio Bolsonaro leads the count in Brazil’s presidential elections
The electoral landscape in Brazil remains tense following this Sunday’s proceedings. According to official data, after 85% of the electoral census has been counted, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro leads the results with 48.47% of the votes. For his part, the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, registers 43.49%, maintaining a difference of approximately five percentage points between both contenders.
In the event that none of the candidates manages to surpass the 50% threshold of the votes required to define the presidency in this first instance, the country must go to a second electoral round on October 25, where the two most voted candidates will face each other.
Election day details
A voter roll of approximately 159 million citizens was eligible to exercise their right to vote in this election, in which not only the future of the presidency was defined, but also the composition of the governorships in the 27 states, the election of 513 federal deputies, the renewal of two-thirds of the Senate, and the configuration of the regional legislative assemblies.
Thanks to the electronic voting system, implemented in the country since 1996, the processing of results has been efficient, allowing preliminary figures to be known a few hours after the polls closed. Despite weather alerts for heavy rain in certain areas, the electoral process took place normally and without serious incidents.
I hope Brazil casts a protest vote against the era of backwardness.
Flávio Bolsonaro, candidate for the Liberal Party, after exercising his right to vote in Rio de Janeiro.
For his part, Lula da Silva went to the polls in São Bernardo do Campo, near São Paulo. The president described this electoral process as a fundamental confrontation between what he termed democracy and barbarism, in a clear reference to the political current of Bolsonarism.
