Brazil braces for runoff as Bolsonaro beats expectations

Brazil's bitterly divisive presidential election is headed for a runoff on October 30 as incumbent Jair Bolsonaro beat expectations to finish a closer-than-expected second to front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Lula, the veteran leftist seeking a presidential comeback, had 48.4 percent of the vote to 43.2 percent for the far-right president with more than 99 percent of polling station results in, according to the Superior Electoral Tribunal.

It was an unexpectedly strong result for combative ex-army captain Bolsonaro -- and for Brazil's far-right, which also had surprise good showings in a series of key Congressional and governors' races.

Lula, the popular but tarnished ex-president who led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, had been the favourite to win the race -- possibly in a single round.

On the eve of the election, leading polling firm Datafolha had given Lula 50 percent of the vote to 36 percent for Bolsonaro.

To win in the first round, a candidate had to get more than 50 percent of the vote.

Instead, Bolsonaro, 67, and Lula, 76, will now dig in for a four-week fight to the final bell.

Bolsonaro hailed the result as a win.

"We beat the lie today," he told reporters, referring to the pre-vote polls.

"Now the campaign is ours... I'm completely confident. We have a lot of positive accomplishments to show."