Turnout: 79.41%
About this election
The 2022 Brazilian presidential election was the closest in the country's history and one of its most tense. Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his corruption convictions annulled, completed a remarkable political comeback by defeating the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the run-off on 30 October 2022 with 50.90% of the valid vote. Lula became the first person elected to a third presidential term in Brazil and Bolsonaro the first incumbent to lose a re-election bid since consecutive re-election was permitted in 1997.
As in every Brazilian presidential contest, the winner is chosen by the two-round system: an absolute majority of valid votes is required in the first round, failing which the top two contest a run-off. Voting is compulsory and fully electronic, producing rapid results. The presidency carries a four-year term renewable once. The election coincided with the renewal of the Chamber of Deputies, one-third of the Senate, and all state governorships and legislatures, so the presidential outcome was shaped by, and shaped, a simultaneously polarised Congress.
The contest was framed as an existential choice between two visions of Brazil. Lula, heading a broad left-to-centre front that even included his former rival Geraldo Alckmin as running mate, promised to restore social spending, protect the Amazon and rebuild democratic institutions. Bolsonaro mobilised his evangelical, agribusiness and pro-gun base and repeatedly cast doubt on the reliability of the electronic voting system. The campaign was marked by disinformation, isolated political violence and the centrist candidacies of Simone Tebet (MDB) and Ciro Gomes (PDT), who shared the remaining vote.
In the first round on 2 October, Lula led with 48.43% to Bolsonaro's 43.20% — a narrower gap than polls had predicted — while right-wing parties made gains in Congress. In the run-off Lula won 60.3 million votes (50.90%) to Bolsonaro's 58.2 million (49.10%), a margin of barely two million. Lula carried 13 states, taking the entire North-East, Minas Gerais and much of the North; Bolsonaro won 14, dominating the South, Centre-West and the decisive state of São Paulo.
Bolsonaro did not explicitly concede, and on 8 January 2023, a week after Lula's inauguration, his supporters stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court in Brasília in scenes echoing the US Capitol riot. The institutions held and the rioters were prosecuted; Bolsonaro was later barred from office until 2030 by the electoral court. Lula returned to power dependent on a fragmented, right-leaning Congress, making coalition management with the so-called "centrão" the central challenge of his third term.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.