Bolsonaro defies expectations in Brazil presidential vote to face Lula in run-off - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Flávio Bolsonaro is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro and an ally of Donald Trump. (Reuters: Pilar Olivares)

Brazil's far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro's son, senator Flávio Bolsonaro, has finished ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the country's elections. 

In a surprise result, Mr Bolsonaro scored 47 per cent of the vote to the incumbent's 45 per cent. 

Brazil will go to a run-off election in three weeks as the president aims to secure a fourth term.

Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro, has finished ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the country's election, which will go to a run-off in three weeks.

In a surprise result that defied opinion poll projections showing the president, known as Lula, in the lead, Mr Bolsonaro scored 47 per cent of the vote to the incumbent's 45 per cent.

Mr Bolsonaro said he was "very happy" to have led incumbent Lula in a first-round presidential vote, voicing confidence in a run-off victory.

If Mr Bolsonaro triumphs in the October 25 election, Brazil will be the latest country in Latin America to swing to the right, a trend championed by US President Donald Trump.

The election results included a series of landslide wins for the right in parliament, a major setback for Lula, who, at almost 81, is seeking a fourth term to cement his legacy.

If Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins, Brazil will keep its distance from Washington. (Reuters: Adriano Machado/File Photo)

The veteran leftist branded the vote a battle between democracy and "barbarism", warning voters that Brazil's sovereignty was at stake in the face of US pressure.

"Tomorrow we start a new campaign," Lula said.

"I am very good in the knockout stage. We will see who has the best plan."

Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, was little known nationally before his jailed father anointed him as his political heir, and he had never expressed ambition to follow in his footsteps.

However, his father's powerful name won over the country's conservative base, and he slid past Lula despite a campaign marked by scandals and mudslinging.

Both Lula and Mr Bolsonaro will have three weeks to reach moderate voters who did not support them in the first round.

While the once widely popular Lula has seen his approval ratings plummet during his third term, standing up to the US gave him a boost and he still enjoys a strong base of supporters who credit his social policies for improving millions of Brazilians' lives.

Voters in the deeply polarised nation were left jaded by familiar choices, and few voted with conviction.

Oscarina de Oliveira, a 62-year-old caregiver, told AFP she had planned to vote for Lula, as she always has, but switched to Mr Bolsonaro when she got to the polls.

Mr Bolsonaro has promised to crack down on criminal groups.  (AP: Bruna Prado)

Reacting to the result, Alvaro Senra, 65, a history professor and Lula supporter in Rio de Janeiro, said he felt "calm but very sad". He watched the count with friends at a bar.

"I think this is the result of conservatives working under the radar, including by neo-Pentecostal churches. But I think Lula can still win," he said.

Earlier in the day, Maria Ribeiro, a 50-year-old cellphone vendor from Brasilia, said she voted for Mr Bolsonaro's eldest son because she wanted freedom to express her evangelical religion. She hoped he would follow in his father's footsteps.

"I voted for his father, and I don't regret it," she said.

The proximity to his father was what worried Lorena Zschaber, a 40-year-old photographer, who watched the results roll in at an LGBTQ+-friendly bar in downtown Rio de Janeiro. During his father's presidency, "people felt more at ease to discriminate," she said.

"I'm an LGBTQ+ woman, I can't think of anything worse happening than Flávio Bolsonaro being elected," she added.

Rosângela Resende da Rocha, a 69-year-old who was previously a stay-at-home mother, said she supported Lula's social policies that help the "less fortunate" and how he stood up to Trump.

"That crazy guy wants to come in here to buy our country, so that our country will be like it is over there," she said at a voting centre in Brasilia. "He won't succeed if Lula wins."

"Just to see what happens, to see if anything changes," she said.

Both candidates will have three weeks to reach moderate voters who did not support them in the first round.

Ronaldo Caiado and Renan Santos, two candidates who garnered about 5.3 million votes combined on Sunday, local time, have previously said they would not endorse either in the run-off.