razil's Lula, Flavio Bolsonaro head to presidential runoff

Brazil will hold a presidential runoff on Oct. 25 as official results showed Sunday that no candidate secured a majority of valid votes in the first round.



According to results released by the Superior Electoral Court, with over 99 percent of the ballots counted, Flavio Bolsonaro, presidential candidate of Brazil's Liberal Party, garnered about 47 percent of valid votes while incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party came in second with about 45 percent.



Under Brazil's electoral rules, a presidential candidate must secure more than half of the valid votes to win outright in the first round.



Otherwise, the two candidates with the most votes advance to a runoff.



Following the announcement of the first-round results, both candidates made remarks on Sunday night. Bolsonaro said at a press conference in Brasilia that he was satisfied with the election result and hoped to have the opportunity to serve Brazil and its people.