Brazil’s Leftist Former President Wins First Round of Election

SÃO PAULO—Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took the most votes in Sunday’s first round of Brazil’s presidential elections, but President Jair Bolsonaro‘s better-than-expected performance means the two will face each other again in a runoff vote at the end of the month.

Mr. da Silva, a standard-bearer of the Latin American left who is widely popular among the poor despite having been jailed on a corruption conviction in 2018, clinched 48.4% of the vote. The tally was just shy of the majority he needed to win outright, with almost 100% of votes counted early Monday, according to Brazil’s electoral court.