Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a record fourth term on Sunday, defeating Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in a tight presidential runoff, according to Brazil’s electoral court. With nearly all votes counted, Lula led with about 51.7 percent of valid votes to Bolsonaro’s 48.3 percent.

The result completes a comeback. Bolsonaro finished ahead of Lula in the first round of voting on October 4, and no candidate who placed second in the opening round had ever gone on to win the runoff since Brazil’s return to democracy.

Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday, is already the longest serving president in Brazil’s modern history. He first led the country from 2003 to 2010 and returned to office in 2023.

The Brazilian leader is one of Israel’s fiercest critics on the world stage. In 2024, he compared Israel’s war in Gaza to the Holocaust, prompting Israel to declare him persona non grata.

Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, is the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, an outspoken supporter of Israel who is serving a 27 year prison sentence for plotting a coup after his 2022 loss to Lula. The younger Bolsonaro had promised to fight for his father’s release and spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his first round win.

Election day was marked by confusion after a Supreme Court justice extended voting by two hours in some areas, citing transportation problems and heavy rain, and the electoral court paused its count until the polls closed.