Brasilia, Oct. 25 -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party (PT) has taken a slight, razor-thin lead over right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL) as early counting got underway in the second round of Brazil's presidential election, according to official data released by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

With approximately 9.99 per cent of the total ballots tabulated, Lula secured 50.48 per cent of the valid votes (6,314,616 votes), closely trailed by Flavio Bolsonaro, who garnered 49.52 per cent (6,194,350 votes).

According to TSE figures updated at 7:38 PM local time on Sunday, a total of 12,508,966 valid votes have been processed so far.

The electoral authority noted that null votes ...