Voting in Brazil's presidential run-off between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro was due to end on Sunday evening, according to the BBC. The contest is the second round of the 2026 election, and both candidates cast their ballots during the day, DW.com reported.
The result will settle a race that Reuters described as tight. The Guardian carried live coverage of the second-round count.
Why it matters
The outcome decides who leads Brazil, and the campaign around it has drawn attention beyond the country's borders. Politico framed the vote around Lula, calling him the left's last great survivor and saying he is running out of road. The BBC's coverage centred on the mechanics of the day itself, with polls closing in the run-off between Lula and the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Campaign asks court to extend voting
Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign asked the Superior Electoral Court, known as the TSE, to leave polling stations open for an extra hour, the BBC reported. The request sought a closing time of 19:00 local time, which is 22:00 GMT.
The campaign argued that severe rain in a number of cities could make it harder for people to reach the polls. The BBC listed the places named in the request.
In São Paulo state, the cities cited were São Paulo itself, Jundiaí, Itapevi, Americana, Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, Itapetininga, Botucatu, Apiaí, Ribeira and Iporanga. In Paraná, the campaign pointed to Curitiba and Guaratuba. In Santa Catarina, it named Tijucas, Videira, Trombudo Central, Joaçaba and Águas de Chapecó.
The BBC did not report whether the court had responded to the request. Under the reporting, the campaign's position was that weather conditions in those locations risked disrupting access for voters.
A run-off between two familiar names
The second round pairs Lula, who has previously held the presidency, against Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father led the country before him. Reuters characterised the runoff as tight, while the BBC's headline identified the contest as one between Lula and Bolsonaro's son.
DW.com reported that both men voted on the day of the deciding round. The Guardian's live results page tracked the count as polls closed.
Coverage of the race has also carried a wider political reading. Politico's piece focused on Lula's position, describing him as the left's last great survivor and suggesting his room for manoeuvre is narrowing. That framing is Politico's characterisation, not a reported fact about the result.
What happens next depends on the count. The Guardian's live results coverage is the place to follow the tally as it comes in, and the TSE's handling of the extension request will determine whether any polling stations stay open past the scheduled close.
