Brasilia: Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro said on Sunday he would not concede defeat to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and would seek the annulment of the presidential runoff election, Reuters reported. Lula secured a fourth non-consecutive term in Sunday's vote.

Source: Reuters

Bolsonaro said a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin extending voting for two hours was "unacceptable", according to Reuters. His annulment claim is an allegation: no court has annulled the result, and the report does not confirm that a formal filing has yet been made.

With 99.99 per cent of ballot boxes counted, Lula had 51.78 per cent of the vote against 48.22 per cent for Bolsonaro, a margin of more than 4.4 million votes, O Globo reported. The heads of the Supreme Court, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have all recognised the outcome.

Source: Life News Agency (citing O Globo, R7 and BBC News Brasil)

TSE president Kassio Nunes Marques expressed "absolute confidence in the entire electoral process", and the Prosecutor General's Office also upheld the integrity of the vote, saying the public's will had been respected.

Bolsonaro's own campaign had also asked the TSE for a two-hour extension in municipalities in Sao Paulo, Parana and Santa Catarina hit by heavy rain and flooding, according to R7 and O Globo. The extension at the centre of the dispute was ordered after Lula's coalition complained that reduced bus services in several states were keeping voters away, and was later clarified to apply only to polling stations still open at 5pm.

Electoral law specialists interviewed by BBC News Brasil said the chances of the runoff being annulled were remote, given the size of Lula's lead and the fact that both campaigns had asked for voting hours to be extended.

Bolsonaro, 45, a senator since 2019, is the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. He finished ahead of Lula in the first round on October 4 but fell short of the 50 per cent needed to win outright.