Rio de Janeiro | Oct. 26, 2026, 12:04 p.m. ET | 4 min read

The reelection of Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to an unprecedented fourth term in the election Sunday bucks a regional trend that has seen a wave of right-wing and far-right candidates win office in Latin America.

Lula, as the president is known, pulled off a surprise victory against his far-right rival, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, who had bested him in the first round. Lula received 51.79% of the runoff vote compared with 48.21% for Senator Bolsonaro – a difference of nearly 4.5 million votes. Polls had suggested a much closer race, and this is the first time in Brazil’s modern history that the first-round runner-up has gone on to win the presidential runoff.

It’s a historic result that strengthens Brazil’s position as a counterweight to the United States’ increasingly assertive presence in Latin America, where President Donald Trump has been exerting political and military influence under his National Security Strategy.…