Abstention falls in the 2nd round of 2026 and hits the lowest level since 2006
According to Exame, 19.22% of voters stopped voting in the 2nd round, compared to 21.08% in the 1st, with Lula winning with 51.79% of valid votes.
BY THE X-TRADER NEWS NEWSROOM · REPORTING FROM EXAME · 2 MIN
Abstention in the second round of the 2026 presidential election fell to 19.22%, according to Exame, against 21.08% recorded in the first round. It is the lowest rate for a presidential second round since 2006, according to data from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) cited by the report.
Even with the drop, around 30.5 million voters did not vote in the second round. In comparison with the first round, Exame points out almost 3 million fewer people did not go to the polls.
The breakdown by state shows strong contrasts. Also according to Exame, Ceará had the lowest abstention in the country, while Acre had the highest.
In the result, Lula (PT) received 51.79% of the valid votes and Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), 48.21%. The difference of 3.58 percentage points makes the dispute tight, and the greater participation in the second round helps to measure the representativeness of the winner.
The numbers obtained, however, do not alone explain why abstention declined. The report describes what happened at the polls, but does not explain the causes of the change in voter behavior.
What changes for the investor
A tight result tends to make the market more attentive to concrete signs of fiscal policy and economic conduct, as the margin of victory is short and the new government will need to build support for its proposals. Higher participation can reinforce the perception of legitimacy of the result, but this effect is indirect and depends on policies that the investigation does not detail. For those who follow the stock market, Nasdaq, interest rates and the dollar, the abstention data, in isolation, is not a sufficient indicator to evaluate scenarios. The most useful thing is to observe the measures announced in the coming months and how they translate into public accounts.
Automatically translated from Portuguese.
