President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a fourth term in Brazil’s presidential runoff Sunday, Oct. 25, days after the country’s space research institute reported its lowest estimated Amazon deforestation rate since monitoring began in 1988. Lula took 51.79% of valid votes against 48.21% for Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral said.
The Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais estimated that 3,335 square kilometers were cleared in the Amazon Legal region between Aug. 1, 2025, and July 31, 2026. That is 41.81% less than the finalized total for the previous monitoring year. The 2026 figure remains an estimate pending a full review of satellite images.
Brazil’s government says it has combined satellite monitoring and enforcement with land management and incentives for sustainable production, including the restoration of its Amazon deforestation action plan in 2023. INPE’s data records the decline but does not isolate the effect of individual policies. INPE
Lula will face a Congress in which Bolsonaro’s Partido Liberal (PL) has gained seats. The PL won 121 seats in the 513-member Chamber of Deputies, while Lula’s PT/PCdoB/PV federation won 88, according to the Chamber’s election figures. Greenpeace Brasil welcomed the re-election but warned that the legislature’s composition could threaten environmental protections.
Bolsonaro said he would seek to annul the election over an extension of voting at polling places that remained open after the scheduled closing time.
