Brazil election: Lula takes lead as vote counting continues

Vote counting is underway in Brazil’s closely contested presidential runoff, with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leading right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro as more ballots are counted.

With 87% of the votes counted, Lula is nearly three percentage points ahead, according to Al Jazeera’s live report from Brasília. The result has surprised observers after Bolsonaro finished ahead in the first round earlier this month.

Journalists are waiting for Flávio Bolsonaro to address the results as counting continues. Questions remain over whether he will accept the outcome if Lula’s lead holds.

Monica Yanakiew reports from São Paulo, with Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor Lucia Newman in Brasília.