Brazilians woke up to four more weeks of campaigning after a presidential election on Sunday destined to frontrunners Luiz In cio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro were slated for a second round run-off later this month.
The results released Monday by Brazil's Superior Electoral Court TSE showed left-wing candidate and former president da Silva finished with a slight lead over right-wing incumbent Bolsonaro, 48.4% versus 43.2% not enough to cross the threshold to victory. The first round of voting would require a minimum of 50% of the candidate to be elected.
The two will face each other again on October 30, in what is widely seen as the most consequential ballot in the country for decades.
Bolsonaro was celebrating. Brazil's president, a divisive figure, often referred to as the Trump of the Tropics, defied expectations from pollsters and analysts who had suggested for months that his candidacy was losing steam. Polls had predicted that he could lose in the first round, ending his presidency after a single term in office.
Bolsonaro's result Sunday was eight points higher than the latest poll by Datafolha, a respected research group, while da Silva's result was two to three points lower than predicted.
Bolsonaro claimed that he was able to get a more expressive vote against everything and everyone in the jubilant Twitter thread on Monday.
His conservative liberal party also saw a sweep of successful lower races, gaining representatives in Brazil's House and Senate and governors in several states.
There were nearly 2 million more votes! The president tweeted that the highest number of representatives in the House and Senate was our highest priority at the beginning of the day, and he said it was the greatest victory of patriots in the history of Brazil. More than 123 million Brazilians waited in long lines to vote in the world's fourth largest democracy, while another 32 million abstained. The large queues were caused by new biometric security checks and higher than expected voter turnout, according to TSE President Alexandre de Moraes.
Trodden political flyers advertising different candidates still littered sidewalks around voting sites on Monday as people tried to make sense of the results and contemplated the possibility of another month of anxiety about the country s future.
Sunday s Democracy Party — a term in Brazil for elections — followed a bruising campaign season marked by violence and bitter language.
In the months leading up to Sunday's vote, Bolsonaro had often criticized the Brazilian electoral system and accuracy of the country's electronic ballots system, drawing condemnation for eroding trust in the electoral process. During the campaign months, there were reports of violence between da Silva and Bolsonaro supporters.
On Monday, da Silva supporters chattered on social media about how a potential victory would weigh against the country's new conservative legislators. The excitement has soured into arguments about what their candidate must do to maintain his lead over the next four weeks.
During a speech in Sao Paulo on Monday, da Silva looked at a new strategy for the last stretch of his campaign. From tomorrow there will be less talk between us and more talks with the voter, according to our campaign command. We don't need to talk to people we already know, who have already voted for us or who we know will vote for us. He said that we need to talk to those who don't seem to like us, who don't vote for us, and who don't like our parties.
Bolsonaro urged supporters to stay focused on a potential victory, saying that profound change had already taken root.
One of the hardest goals was achieved yesterday, he said.