Brazil’s electoral authority says Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva has defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro to become the country’s next president. 

The news on Sunday marked a stunning return to power for the 77-year-old, of the leftist Workers’ Party, who had led Brazil from 2003 to 2010. 

His 2018 imprisonment over a corruption scandal sidelined him from that year’s election, paving the way for then-candidate Bolsonaro’s win and four years of far-right politics. 

The result marked the first time since Brazil’s 1985 return to democracy that the sitting president has failed to win re-election.  Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro blocked major highways for a second day as tensions mounted over his silence after narrowly losing re-election to bitter rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. 

Thirty-six hours after official results showed he had lost Sunday’s presidential run-off with only 1.8 percentage points, Mr. Bolsonaro has yet to concede defeat, fanning concerns he may try and challenge the result after months of attacking the electoral system as fraudulent. 

Federal Highway Police (PRF) on Tuesday, Nov. 1, reported more than 250 total or partial road blockages in at least 23 states by Bolsonaro supporters, while local media said protests outside the country’s main international airport in Sao Paulo delayed passengers and led to several flights being canceled. 

Protesters wearing the yellow and green of the Brazilian flag – which the outgoing president has adopted as his own – said they would not accept the outcome of the election. 

“We will not accept losing what we have gained, we want what is written on our flag, ‘order and progress’. We will not accept the situation as it is,” Antoniel Almeida, 45, told Agence France Presse (AFP) at a protest in Barra Mansa, Rio de Janeiro. 

On Monday night, Judge Alexander de Moraes of the Supreme Court ordered police to disperse the blockades immediately. He was acting in response to a request by a transport federation that complained it was losing business. The incumbent far-right president has neither conceded defeat nor challenged the results that divided the nation. 

There are concerns that the outgoing president could complicate the two-month transition period before Lula, is due to be sworn in on 1 January 2023.