With the support of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the current leader of Latin America’s largest leftist political organization was the favorite to win the internal elections.

The result emerged after the party managed to reverse the decision that suspended the vote in Minas Gerais, given a dispute over the inclusion of Representative Dandara Tonantzin’s candidacy for the state branch, which halted the referendum there.

After a legal battle, the vote was ultimately announced without the ballots from that territorial division. Even without Minas Gerais, the former minister achieved the necessary amount of votes to declare his victory.

According to the interim president of the PT, Senator Humberto Costa, who presided over the plebiscite, the new party leader reached 73.48 percent of the 342,394 votes counted to date.

In a debate last month, the candidates warned of the need for changes in the government’s leadership to avoid defeat in the 2026 elections, as the new president will lead the PT in next year’s elections.

Costa assumed temporary leadership of the party in March, replacing Gleisi Hoffmann, who was appointed Minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, the portfolio that oversees the government’s political coordination with Parliament.

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