What is known is that after a protracted and acrimonious campaign between the former president and the current far-right leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be the country's next president, officials confirmed. It was a rejection of the far-right movement and Jair Bolsonaro's polarising four years in power.
Bolsonaro is expelled from Brazil, while previous leftist leader Lula is reinstated.
Although Lula's particular objectives are hazy, his win is likely to bring about significant changes for Brazil.
Brazil's election officials want an explanation for why police stopped voter-transportation buses.
Bolsonaro may now be charged after losing.
What does Latin America's election in Brazil mean?
Bolsonaro is expelled from Brazil, while previous leftist leader Lula is reinstated.
ABRASIL — Election officials reported that voters in Brazil on Sunday rejected far-right movement and Mr. Bolsonaro's divisive four years in government by electing the leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to succeed him.
The triumph brings to an end Mr. da Silva's extraordinary political comeback, which saw him go from the presidency to prison and back.
It also puts an end to Mr. Bolsonaro's contentious tenure as the most influential leader in the area. He attracted attention from all over the world for years due to his policies that accelerated the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and worsened the pandemic, which claimed nearly 700,000 lives in Brazil. He also rose to prominence on the international far-right scene due to his outspoken criticism of the left, the media, and Brazil's democratic institutions.
More recently, his attempts to destabilise Brazil's electoral system drew particular attention domestically and abroad, as well as to Sunday's vote as a crucial test for one of the biggest democracies in the world.
The president, who is similar to the late President Donald J. Trump, has asserted without providing any evidence that the nation's electronic voting machines are riddled with fraud. Many of his admirers swore to march in the streets if he ordered them to.
The outcome on Sunday showed that tens of millions of Brazilians were sick of his divisive demeanour and the constant upheaval in his government. In the 34 years of Brazil's modern democracy, it was the first time an incumbent president did not win re-election.
However, Mr. da Silva won by the slimmest margin over that same time period, indicating the significant gap he will face as president.
With 98.81 percent of the ballots counted as of Sunday night, he received 50.83 percent of the vote against Mr. Bolsonaro's 49.17 percent.
Mr. da Silva, 77, a former metalworker and union leader with only a fifth-grade education, presided over Brazil during its economic boom in the first decade of the twenty-first century. However, he was eventually found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 580 days in prison after leaving office.
The Supreme Court overturned the convictions last year after finding that the judge in those instances was prejudiced, and supporters of the guy known only as "Lula" grew strong.
The election of Mr. da Silva puts an end to a presidential contest that was widely regarded as one of the most significant in Latin America in recent memory. The contest pitted perhaps the two most influential political figures in Brazil, each of whom had a distinct vision for how to turn around the nation's fortunes.
As a result of a surge of anti-incumbent backlash, his election also moves Brazil back to the left, extending a streak of leftist triumphs throughout Latin America. Since 2018, socialist presidents have been elected in six of the seven main nations in the area.
Mr. da Silva, a fiery leftist who established his career as a champion of the underprivileged for decades, faces formidable obstacles. Brazil's population is sharply divided, it suffers increased hunger, a faltering economy, and it faces environmental problems.
Despite winning, many of Brazil's 217 million inhabitants still perceive Mr. da Silva as crooked due to the extensive government kickback system that was discovered years after he left office. And although Mr. da Silva's corruption charges were overturned, he was never declared innocent.
Despite these weaknesses, however, Mr. da Silva was able to win the president back thanks to the fierce opposition to Mr. Bolsonaro and his far-right movement. He isn't the answer to every issue. But he's our only hope," declared 30-year-old librarian Stefane Silva de Jesus after voting for Mr. da Silva in Rio de Janeiro.
The main selling point of Mr. da Silva to voters was that his eight years in power were Brazil's apogee and that he would "reestablish unity" in the nation following Mr. Bolsonaro's four years of unrest.
His official start date is January 1.
