Vanessa Buschschlüter
Latin America and Caribbean editor

Image source, Getty Images

Flávio Bolsonaro had been expecting a victory tonight. His reaction to his election loss has been to question the result.

He said it was "impossible to recognise" even though with all of the results now in, he is trailing with 48.21% compared to Lula's 51.79%.

He is calling for an annulment of the election, and the reason he is giving is that "the rules of the game were changed".

What he is referring to is the decision by the Supreme Court to extend voting by two hours.

While it was an unusual decision, it was one which had been formally requested by both Lula and Bolsonaro's campaign teams.

Lula's team had argued that voters in São Paulo and Bahia could not get to the polling stations because of a lack of buses.

Bolsonaro's team cited heavy rain in some areas in the south of the country and in São Paulo as the reason for their request.

In his first public appearance, Bolsonaro said he would get his campaign's legal team to request the annulment.

No doubt the legal team is now busy hammering out the arguments it will put before the court to back up its claim.

But no presidential election in Brazil has ever been annulled.

Branca Lessa de Sa
Reporting from Brasília

Flávio Bolsonaro was visibly angry as he delivered comments outside of the home in Brasília a little earlier.

He said that a lot would need to be "cleared up" before this "sacanagem" - a Brazilian term meaning dirty trick - could be accepted.

Pablo Marçal, an influencer and former mayoral candidate who has been coordinating a social media campaign in support of Bolsonaro, also spoke after leaving the house in Brasilia.

He said the decision by Brazil’s Supreme Court to extend voting hours was a "tragedy".

As a reminder, both sides asked for extensions to voting hours for different reasons - read more here.

We'll bring you more details to explain the fallout - and what could happen next - shortly.

Pascal Fletcher
Latin American Specialist, BBC Monitoring

Many media outlets in Brazil have been describing the result as a "historic turnaround" for Lula.

Lula's victory represented "a historic turnaround in the hardest-fought election race in [Brazil's] history," Brasilia-based daily Correio Braziliense wrote.

Brazilian news magazine Veja noted that Lula had managed to achieve a number of firsts in his country's electoral history: he becomes the first Brazilian politician to win the presidency four times, and also the first candidate to win a run-off vote after finishing second in the earlier round of voting.

Daily O Estado de S. Paulo and other outlets reported on Lula's jubilant supporters celebrating in the central Avenida Paulista of Brazil's largest city, São Paulo.

Image source, Getty Images

Leaders from across Latin America are sending congratulations to Lula.

• Paraguay President Santiago Peña posted on X: "I salute the Brazilian people for this great democratic journey".
• Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on social media: "Long live democracy, the people of Brazil won. Congratulations, President Lula!"
• Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz said:"Bolivia and Brazil are neighbouring and brother countries, united by a shared history and common challenges. We will continue working together to strengthen our relationship and generate more opportunities for ​our nations."
• Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel called it an "historic victory" which "ensures the continuity of ​the ⁠path of peace, sovereignty, and social justice embarked upon by the Brazilian people under your leadership".
• Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi called Lula a "friend" and said he had "congratulated him ​on the victory and on the democratic celebration that ​an electoral process represents".
• Panama President José Raúl Mulino said: "I ⁠congratulate ​the Brazilian people for this democratic ​day and especially President Lula for the victory!"

Here's a reminder of the split between left- and right-wing leaders in the region:

Earlier, we brought you photos of jubilant Lula supporters.

However, it's a different story for supporters of Flávio Bolsonaro who were visibly upset at the outcome.

The son of the former president, who is currently under house arrest, has so far refused to recognise Lula's victory.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Ione Wells
Reporting from Brasília

Image source, Getty Images

Flávio Bolsonaro was expecting to give a victory speech tonight here in Brasília after winning the first round.

Instead, he just said that what happened was “impossible” and “inexplicable” and said the result should be annulled.

His supporters chanted his name as he left. This lack of recognition of the result could sow a lot of distrust among his supporters.

With his comments tonight, he follows in his father Jair Bolsonaro’s footsteps - he too refused to recognise his election loss in 2022.

Ione Wells
Reporting from Brasília

Huge crowds of press are gathered at the house here in Brasília where Flavio Bolsonaro was watching the result.

The scene was set for a victory party and speech, with a big screen and supporters of his inside.

When it was clear which way the wind was blowing, some of those supporters left early looking despondent and in some cases visibly annoyed.

We are waiting for Flavio Bolsonaro to speak - the big question is whether or not he will accept this result.

Vanessa Buschschlüter
Latin America and Caribbean editor

In his victory speech, Lula again stresses that Brazil will "not accept being anyone's backyard".

This has been one of phrases he has repeated time and time again in his campaign.

It refers to the term "America's backyard" - a pithy way to describe the idea in US policy that Latin America should be under the sphere of influence of the United States.

That idea is one that President Donald Trump has enshrined in what he himself has called "Donroe Doctrine" but which has raised hackles in Latin America.

President Lula's defence of Brazil's sovereignty is one of the things which pollsters think won him votes, with voters rejecting what they saw as US interference.

Lula thanks those who coordinated his campaign, as well as the "generosity of Brazilian people", including young people, who he says "went to the streets to defend Brazilian democracy".

People voted because we could convince them that the vote was important for the sovereignty of our country, he tells the crowds.

He says this election was a "loss for negativity, lies".

Image source, Getty Images

"Our throats are very tired," Lula begins, with a hoarse voice.

He almost immediately hands over to his Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, who he says he wants to speak first.

"You, for the second time, have saved Brazilian democracy," Alckmin tells Lula.

Image source, Getty Images

After a short delay, Lula is now speaking in São Paulo.

He is being thronged by supporters trying to take selfies with him.

We'll bring you the key lines from his speech.

We're getting some early pictures of Lula supporters celebrating in Rio de Janeiro.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Joao Fellet
BBC Brasil, reporting from São Paulo

Image source, Getty Images

Lula's supporters are celebrating intensely, many of them in tears.

Many didn't believe this victory would be possible. People are setting fireworks and singing.

São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista turned into a carnival block on a Sunday night.

Just after the result was declared, Lula was seen celebrating and kissing his wife in a video posted in his WhatsApp community group.

President Lula is expected to give a speech soon from São Paulo, where his team and supporters are gathering to celebrate his victory.

We'll bring you the key lines.

Image source, Reuters

Ione Wells
Reporting from Brasília

Outside the house where Flávio Bolsonaro was watching the result, some of his supporters are leaving - some looking visibly angry and despondent.

The scene here had been set for a victory party.

Vanessa Buschschlüter
Latin America and Caribbean editor

Image source, Getty Images

When President Lula lost to Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round of this election, many analysts said he had reached the end of the political road.

They pointed to the fact that no candidate had ever been able to recover from a first-round loss to go on to win in the run-off. They also insisted that opinion polls often underestimated the support for right-wing candidates.

Lula himself, though, had seemed confident, telling his supporters to have faith and rally in his support.

The veteran leader has of course been written off before. In 2017, he was convicted of corruption and sent to jail for more than 18 months.

Those convictions were annulled in 2021, leaving Lula free to run for the presidency in the 2022 election, in which he beat Jair Bolsonaro.

Now he has beaten Jair Bolsonaro's son, showing once more that he is a formidable political opponent, even at 80 years of age.

Ione Wells
Reporting from Brasília

Brazil’s President Lula da Silva has just been elected for a fourth term.

This is a huge upset for the Flávio Bolsonaro campaign. No candidate since democracy was restored in 1988 has won the second round after not winning the first round of voting.

Voting was delayed for two hours after both campaigns complained about disruptions to voting, caused by the public transport system in some cities and bad weather.

Despite this, Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign had already raised doubts about the process before the result was announced.

Image source, Getty Images

We can bring you a bit more detail now on the results.

With 99.81% of votes counted, Lula has secured 51.76% of the vote, compared to Flávio Bolsonaro's 48.24%.

Vanessa Buschschlüter
Latin America and Caribbean editor

Image source, Getty Images

This was a bitterly fought campaign.

It is Lula's fourth win in a presidential election, having served two terms as president from January 2003 to December 2010, and again from January 2023.

But the road to this win was not a smooth one.

Bolsonaro had beaten Lula in the first round on 4 October and many had not thought it possible for him to turn the result around in just three weeks.

He has also bucked a wider trend in Latin America, where voters have punished incumbents and turned to the right.

Across the region, larger countries such as Argentina, Chile and Colombia all now have conservative leaders at their helm.