Brazil runoff live updates: Lula has defeated Bolsonaro, electoral court announces

The incumbent, who had lost by 2.2 million votes three weeks ago, has now won by 4.3 million.

The 80-year-old leftist appears to have made up much of the difference through what his allies had identified as his main opportunity: persuading his voters to turn out.

After a record abstention rate of 21.08% in the first round, which disproportionately affected Lula voters because they tend to live farther from polling stations, the rate fell to 19.21%.

Lula is the first candidate in Brazil’s democratic history to overturn a first-round defeat in a runoff.

Brazil’s electoral court announced a short while ago that the leftist president has won against the far-right Bolsonaro and been elected for a fourth non-consecutive term.

Here are some of the images coming in from Brazil as Lula stages a stunning comeback against Bolsonaro to secure another term as president.

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has staged a dramatic election fightback and defeated his far-right opponent Flávio Bolsonaro to claim a historic fourth term in power.

With nearly 99% of votes counted the 80-year-old leftist received 51.75% of the vote to his 45-year-old rival’s 48.25%, Tom Phillips and Tiago Rogero report.

Lula narrowly lost the first round of the election to Bolsonaro in early October, casting his political future into doubt and plunging progressive Brazilians into three weeks of despair. Never, since the return of democracy in the 1980s, has the first round runner-up won the second vote.

But Lula did precisely that on Sunday, prompting joyous scenes on the streets of São Paulo, where he had been following the count, and at the hotel where he was watching the count.

For Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday, the victory represents a sensational final chapter in a storied political career that began when he emerged as a union leader in São Paulo’s industrial suburbs in the late 1970s.

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Brazil’s electoral court has just announced that leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro and was elected president of Brazil for a fourth non-consecutive term.

Lula is the first candidate in Brazil’s democratic history to overturn a first-round defeat in a runoff.

Reginaldo Lopes, a key Lula ally and congressman, has just marched into the hall where Lula is about to speak, and he is in very high spirits believing Lula has won.

I spoke to him as he arrived and he told me:

I feel incredible. We are going to win these elections… because the people know that the Bolsonaro family will never deserve to occupy the presidential palace. The presidential palace is a place for people who are sensitive … and in our next term we are going to see a revolution.

I asked him what a Lula victory would mean for Brazil and he replied:

This is Brazil telling the world that the extreme right is fascist, that the extreme right is against black people, is against the poor, against the state, against gay people … We are going to reorganize the democratic forces [in this country.

Lula is expected to arrive shortly and there are tears of joy as he closes in on a historic victory

Datafolha, one of Brazil’s most established polling institutes and owned by the Folha de S Paulo newspaper, has projected that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has completed his comeback against far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro and will be the president of Brazil for a fourth time.

The institute uses data from the official count and, “through its own system”, makes a projection, which is already the headline in Folha and other Brazilian media outlets.

At Bolsonaro’s headquarters in Brasília, the silence has been deafening since Lula retook the lead over the senator.

Many of his guests, who arrived celebrating, wearing Brazil shirts and cheering like after goals every time an update showed him ahead, have already started leaving with dejected expressions and without speaking to the press.

Bolsonaro is expected to make a statement shortly after the count is completed.

Lula is reportedly holding a narrow lead over Flávio Bolsonaro with 75% of Brazil’s votes counted.

It’s now 51% Lula and 48.9% Bolsonaro with nearly 75% of votes counted.

Lula seems to be closing in on victory and the mood in his camp is increasingly excited.

This would be an absolutely sensational comeback from one of the biggest figures in the modern history of Latin American politics.

Lula has edged further ahead in the latest figures, reportedly taking 50.92% to Bolsonaro’s 49.08% with 69.92% of ballots counted.

The celebratory mood that swept Flávio Bolsonaro’s headquarters moments ago when he overtook Lula in the vote count has disappeared since the president began closing the gap and moved back into the lead.

Despite the earlier celebrations, the atmosphere has in some ways been tense since the start of the evening.

Bolsonaro’s campaign is showing signs that it may be preparing the ground not to concede if he is defeated.

One of the most popular figures in Bolsonaro’s party, congressman Nikolas Ferreira, appeared unusually tense while speaking to journalists – unlike the jokey demeanour he usually has in front of the cameras.

He posted on social media:

Either we win. Or we win. You’ve been warned.

There were screams of joy in Lula’s hotel as he took the lead a few minutes ago. With nearly half of votes counted he now has 50.15% to Bolsonaro’s 49.85%.

“It’s going to work out! It’s going to work out! It has to!” one official told me.

The mood here is increasingly upbeat with Bolsonaro’s path to victory looking increasingly tricky.