Brazil's Lula wins fourth term with 50% of the vote

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a fourth term as president of Brazil, defeating his far-right opponent Flávio Bolsonaro. The election result marks a dramatic political comeback for Lula, who will continue to serve as the nation's leader.

Flávio Bolsonaro has refused to concede the election. He has formally requested that the results be annulled. In his challenge, he pointed to a decision by a supreme court justice to extend voting hours. He argued that this procedural change affected the final count.

The dispute echoes a pattern from the 2022 election. Four years ago, his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, also refused to acknowledge his defeat to Lula. Jair Bolsonaro subsequently attempted a coup and has since been convicted in connection with the event.

Tom Phillips, reporting from São Paulo, assessed the immediate political fallout. He stated, "The Bolsonaro response is exactly as I feared, but I don’t think it will mean very much. All these world leaders are now recognising Lula’s win, and I don’t think Bolsonaro has a hope of overturning this result."

Phillips also characterized the victory as the culmination of Lula's career. "[For Lula] this is the crescendo of an incredible, if sometimes controversial, 50-year political career," Phillips said. He noted that Lula was the first elected working-class leader in Brazilian history and has helped millions of people escape poverty.

The election outcome occurred amid heightened tensions in the occupied West Bank. In Hebron, a city of 250,000 people, Israeli forces sealed off the area following a gun attack on a military checkpoint. The attack resulted in the deaths of two Israeli soldiers.

The Hebron municipality reported that 370 families were displaced, a total of nearly 2,000 people. The neighborhood of Farsh al-Hawa, which is closest to the site of the attack, was flattened. The Israeli army stated in official comments that the displaced population left voluntarily.

Yousef al-Jabari, the mayor of Hebron, described the situation as collective punishment. He said, "They have dragged people from their houses, and they have prevented the media from getting into the district … Netanyahu and his gang are using Palestinian land to displace Palestinian people, closing the city, closing the mosque, in order to achieve their political goals."

In the United States, Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola delayed campaign stops after being involved in a car crash. Peltola suffered minor injuries, as did the occupant of a second vehicle. Both were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Peltola is seeking to become the first Democrat to represent Alaska in the Senate in nearly two decades.

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit to block the certification of Alaska’s Senate results if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses. Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the action, alleging that voter confusion could arise because two candidates named Dan Sullivan appear on the ballot.