Lula overtakes incumbent Jair Bolsonaro with almost 80% of Brazil votes counted

Brazil Elections 2022: Lula has 50.2% compared with 49.8% for Bolsonaro, according to the country’s election authority.

As incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva were very close in Brazil’s runoff presidential election after 78% of the votes had been tallied, the former was in the lead.

Brazil Elections 2022: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was leading after 80 percent of the votes were tallied. (Reuters)

Lula has 50.2% compared with 49.8% for Bolsonaro, according to the country’s election authority.

Jair Bolsonaro had been leading throughout the first half of the count. In the first round of voting on October 2, the first half of votes tallied likewise showing Jair Bolsonaro ahead, with Lula pulling ahead later.

Polls on the eve of the election had predicted that Jair Bolsonaro was trailing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, by a margin of four to eight percentage points. Lula won the first round of voting by about 6 million votes but fell short of overall majority that would have guaranteed him an outright win.