Brazil Count Tightens to a Dead Heat: Lula Leads Early, Flavio Edges Ahead With 13 Percent Counted

Brasilia: The vote count in Brazil's presidential runoff has turned into a neck-and-neck fight. Incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led in the early counting, but with just over 13 percent of ballots counted his rival Flavio Bolsonaro has edged slightly ahead.

On Sunday, Brazilian Supreme Court justice Cristiano Zanin ordered voting in the runoff to be extended by two hours, granting a request from Lula's campaign. Polls were initially set to close at 5pm Brasilia time; under the new decision, people could vote until 7pm.

Lula's campaign alleged that authorities in several cities were restricting voter access to public transportation. Allegations of attempted voter suppression were raised in at least 10 states, where public transport appeared to have been severely limited in what some suspect was a deliberate ploy to stop Lula voters reaching polling stations.

Earlier, Lula told reporters he had never before complained about elections he had been involved in, irrespective of whether he had won or lost. "But this time something abominable is happening," he said. However, because the decision came so shortly after polling stations were due to close, some of them may already have closed.

Voting ended at 7pm local time and the count began. With five percent of votes counted, Lula had taken an early lead with 51 percent to Bolsonaro's 48.87 percent, making clear from the start that this would be a tight race and a very long night.

As the count progressed, the gap kept shrinking. With 13.65 percent of the vote counted, Flavio moved just slightly ahead, with 50.01 percent of the vote against Lula's 49.99 percent.

Hundreds of Lula supporters camped out on Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo to watch the count. Among them was Camilo Buarque, 35, carrying a bright red banner reading "Lula: My President". "I feel so very happy being here and being here fighting for Lula," Buarque said, saying his confidence came from "the energy and the happiness and the love" of the people around him; as the first results gave Lula the lead, fireworks exploded above the celebrating crowd.

Joao Felipe, a 27-year-old logistics worker, was also waiting in hope of a huge Lula party. "I've always been poor and Lula was a very important person when it came to helping people improve their lives," he said, predicting: "Lula is going to turn this election around. Long live democracy." His partner Ester Almeida, 28, said: "My heart is beating a thousand beats a second but I'm confident."

Flavio Bolsonaro, meanwhile, was following the count from the mansion of one of his campaign coordinators in a wealthy area of the capital, Brasilia. The dozens of journalists present were kept separate from Bolsonaro and his allied politicians, but bursts of celebration — like after a goal — could be heard whenever an update narrowed his gap with Lula. When, with 13.65 percent counted, Flavio moved slightly ahead, an AI-generated funk track began playing loudly and the senator's guests chanted a line commonly heard in Brazilian football stadiums: "Go at him, Flavio."

One of the most popular figures in Flavio Bolsonaro's party, congressman Nikolas Ferreira, indicated that the far right could use the extension of voting hours as grounds to challenge the election result in the event of a victory by Lula. He gave that indication while speaking to journalists outside the mansion in Brasilia.