Brazil’s presidential election is going into a second-round run-off after no candidate achieved a majority of more than 50% of the ballot.

With almost all the votes counted, results released by Brazil’s Electoral Superior Court showed Lula had won 48% against Bolsonaro’s 43% – a much closer result than opinion polls had suggested.

Lula fell short of the more than 50% of valid votes needed to prevent a run-off.

Voters now have four weeks to decide which of the two should lead Brazil.

Winning outright in the first round was always going to be a tall order for any candidate – the last time it happened was 24 years ago.

President Bolsonaro and Lula had given their supporters hope that they could achieve just that.