Americas · Public record
Brazil election first round results: Flávio Bolsonaro leads with 47.03%, Lula has 45.16%, and neither passes 50%
Update, 5 October 2026: The TSE results file, stamped 12:51 Brasília time (11:51 ET), now lists Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula for the 25 October second round and marks the count final. The vote figures have not changed.
No candidate has passed 50% of valid votes in the first round of Brazil's presidential election, held on Sunday 4 October 2026, according to the official count published by the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE), Brazil's electoral court. At 12:51 Brasília time on 5 October (11:51 ET), with 100% of polling sections counted and the count marked final, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL) led with 56,104,503 votes, 47.03% of valid votes. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party (PT) had 53,879,538 votes, 45.16%.
To win in the first round, a candidate needs more than half of the valid votes, which exclude blank and spoiled ballots. The TSE results file lists Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula as going to the second round ("2º turno"). The TSE's 2026 election calendar sets the second round for 25 October.
The TSE count
Figures from the TSE results file for the presidential race, Brazil total, stamped 05/10/2026 12:51:47 Brasília time (11:51 ET on 5 October):
- Sections counted: 499,248 of 499,248 (100.00%).
- Flávio Bolsonaro (PL): 56,104,503 votes, 47.03% of valid votes.
- Lula (PT): 53,879,538 votes, 45.16%.
- Status: the TSE lists Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula as "2º turno" (second round) and every other candidate as "Não eleito" (not elected).
- Other candidates: Augusto Cury (Avante) 2.89%, Renan Santos (Missão) 2.24%, Ronaldo Caiado (PSD) 2.18%, Romeu Zema (Novo) 0.27%. Six other candidates had 0.10% or less each.
- Turnout: 78.92% of registered voters in the sections counted. The national electorate is 158,745,502. Blank ballots were 1.84% and spoiled ballots 2.93% of votes cast.
What Reuters and Folha print
- Reuters (Brendan O'Boyle, Luciana Magalhaes and Rodrigo Viga Gaier) reported that, with nearly 85% of votes reported, Flávio led Lula by 48.47% to 43.49%.
- Folha de S.Paulo (Igor Gielow; first published 19:07 Brasília time, updated 21:17) reported that, with almost 99% of ballot boxes counted, Flávio had 47.25% of valid votes and Lula 44.90%. Folha said the second round was made official by the TSE at around 21:00 Brasília time.
The outlets' figures are earlier points in the same count. The TSE figures above are the latest count.
The campaigns
Neither campaign had issued a statement on the result by 20:51 ET. Folha reported that Lula would follow the count in São Paulo, meeting allies at a hotel. O Globo reported that Flávio would follow it in Brasília and speak once the result was settled.
What the numbers do and don't show
The two leaders are 2,224,965 votes apart. The other candidates together hold 9,316,747 valid votes, and 21.08% of registered voters in the sections counted did not vote. The first-round figures do not show which way those voters would move in a second round.
What we don't know
- Who the eliminated candidates will back. Caiado said after voting that he would decide on second-round support only after the count, Folha reported. We found no endorsement from Cury, Renan Santos or Zema.
- What each campaign will say about the result. Neither had spoken on it by 20:51 ET.
What happens next
- 25 October: the second round, according to the TSE calendar. Free campaign airtime on radio and TV runs from 9 to 23 October, according to the same calendar.
- Endorsements by Cury (Avante), Renan Santos (Missão), Caiado (PSD) and Zema (Novo).
Context
Earlier coverage of Brazil's Supreme Court: Fachin took the fake-news brief.
Sources
- Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, presidential results file, Brazil total, stamped 05/10/2026 12:51:47 Brasília time: https://resultados.tse.jus.br/oficial/ele2026/6257/dados/br/br-c0001-e006257-u.json. Public results portal: resultados.tse.jus.br.
- Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, "Eleições 2026: confira as principais datas do calendário eleitoral" (Resolução nº 23.760, 2 March 2026): tse.jus.br.
- Reuters, "Brazil election headed to runoff, projection shows, as Bolsonaro lead narrows", 4 October 2026: reuters.com.
- Folha de S.Paulo, Igor Gielow, "Flávio Bolsonaro e Lula estão no 2º turno", 4 October 2026: folha.uol.com.br.
- Folha de S.Paulo, "Lula diz que pesquisa que vale é a urna, e Flávio afirma estar confiante em vitória no 1º turno", 4 October 2026: folha.uol.com.br.
- O Globo, Luísa Marzullo and Letícia Pille, 4 October 2026: oglobo.globo.com.
Half the valid vote was the bar on 4 October. Nobody has cleared it.