Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party won the second round of the country's presidential election on Sunday, defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party by a narrow margin, Reuters reports.
According to figures released by the Superior Electoral Tribunal, Lula da Silva obtained 50.88 percent of the vote, surpassing Bolsonaro's 49.12 percent.
This is the smallest difference in a second-round presidential election in Brazil's history.
In the first round held on Oct 2, Lula da Silva obtained 48.3 percent of the vote, compared to 43.2 percent received by Bolsonaro.
Lula da Silva, founder of the Workers' Party, focused his campaign on social issues, making pledges including minimum wage increases, strengthening of state-owned companies, and efforts against hunger and poverty.
The 77-year-old served as Brazilian president from 2003 to 2010. He was convicted of taking bribes from engineering firms in return for public contracts in 2018 and spent more than 18 months behind bars. In 2021, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge overturned the graft convictions against him, clearing the way for him to run in the 2022 presidential election.
