BRASILIA: Brazil's leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pulled off a dramatic comeback on Sunday as he clinched a re-election victory, but his rival Flavio Bolsonaro refused to accept the loss and said he would seek to annul the vote.
With Lula's victory, Brazil staved off a conservative wave that has seen numerous countries -- such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru -- all shift right, backed by US President Donald Trump.
The leftist icon, who turns 81 on Tuesday, defied projections to win an unprecedented fourth term.
According to official results, he won 51.8% of the votes to 48.2% for Flavio Bolsonaro, with Lula pulling around 4.4 million more votes.
The senator is the son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year jail term for attempting a coup after his loss to Lula in the country's last election in 2022.
Sunday's vote was marked by confusion after a Supreme Court ruling extended voting by two hours as some polling stations had already closed.
The move came at the request of Lula who complained that buses had been pulled from circulation in various cities, barring citizens from voting.
Flavio Bolsonaro also requested an extension in some regions due to heavy rains, but he described the decision as "unacceptable" and a "dirty trick"
"It is impossible to recognize the results. I am going to request the annulment of these elections," he said, stone-faced, in a brief speech in Brasilia.
No candidate who lost the first round has gone on to win the second in Brazil since 1989, the first direct election after the end of the country's military dictatorship.
"People went to vote because we managed to convince them that voting was very important for ensuring democracy in the country," Lula said in his first comments after the win.
Fireworks and vuvuzelas rang out in Rio de Janeiro, while thousands of people dressed in red, the color of Lula's Workers' Party, streamed into the streets of Sao Paulo to celebrate.