Brasília | Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva claimed a tight victory in Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday (Monday AEDT) in a dramatic comeback for the left-wing politician who was languishing in a jail cell just three years ago on corruption charges.

He defeated the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro with 50.9 per cent to 49.1 per cent of the votes in Sunday’s run-off vote, according to the official tally. The result signals a change in direction for Latin America’s largest economy after a heated campaign that showed extreme polarisation among the electorate, and marks the first time a sitting president in Brazil has lost a re-election bid.

Bloomberg