RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump, was re-elected on Sunday in a runoff that eases concerns over widening US influence in Latin America, AP reported.
With 100 per cent of the vote counted, Brazil's electoral court announced that the 80-year-old Lula had a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes, or 51.8 per cent of the total, over opponent Flavio Bolsonaro.
The announcement capped an evening of chaos at polling stations across Brazil after a last-minute decision to extend voting by two hours.
Late on Sunday, Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat, calling the extension unprecedented even though both candidates had requested it, and asked for the election results to be annulled, saying they were impossible to accept.
Lula's victory bucks a trend in Latin America, where a rising number of right-of-centre candidates allied with Trump have been winning. It leaves Mexico and Brazil, the region's two most populous nations, with left-of-centre leaders, and keeps Latin America's largest economy independent of the US despite higher tariffs imposed by Trump's administration.
A video released by Lula's campaign showed him celebrating with First Lady Rosangela da Silva and allies after his runoff victory was confirmed. Hundreds of his supporters gathered on Sao Paulo's main avenue to celebrate.
The win gives Lula his non-consecutive fourth term as president. His new term begins on January 5, 2027. It is the first time since Brazil's military dictatorship ended in 1985 that the candidate who finished second in the first round went on to win the presidency.
Bolsonaro had led with 47 per cent of the vote in the first round earlier this month, against Lula's 45 per cent, a margin of 2.2 million votes.
The election was fought largely over cost-of-living concerns and security, with Bolsonaro running on a tough-on-crime platform.
The extension of voting hours followed a ruling by Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin three minutes before polls were due to close, after requests from both candidates. Lula's campaign cited transport problems affecting buses to polling stations in Sao Paulo and Salvador, cities that tend to favour the incumbent. Bolsonaro's campaign cited heavy rain in southern Brazil, a region where he is favoured.