Right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has taken an early lead over leftist incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the first round of Brazil's presidential election, initial returns released by the country's superior electoral court confirm.
The figures are based on 64.81% of the votes counted.
The vote count began after polls closed, allowing voters already in line to cast their ballots.
More than 158.7 million voters were eligible to participate in the election, which also included races for governor, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
Electoral analysts note that southern states, which traditionally favour Bolsonaro, are frequently the quickest to tabulate and transmit returns, whilst tallies from Lula's historic strongholds across the north-east typically arrive later in the evening.
High turnout
Voting stations closed across Brazil at 5:00 pm Brasilia time (20:00 GMT), though electoral officials permitted citizens already queueing at precincts to cast their ballots.
Ballot counting began immediately after the polls closed, with electronic tallies transmitted directly from secure voting machines and continuously aggregated into the national registry.
The high-stakes contest pits Lula against Flavio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, amidst severe ideological polarisation and ongoing investigations into alleged foreign interference.
Under Brazilian electoral law, if neither candidate secures more than 50 percent of valid votes once counting concludes, the two front-runners will advance to a second-round runoff scheduled for October 25.
