Brazil’s Liberal Party recognised Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in the country’s presidential runoff on Monday, even as candidate Flávio Bolsonaro refused to concede and US President Donald Trump called the vote rigged. The Brazil election Lula Bolsonaro race was held on October 25, 2026.
Lula won by more than 4.4 million votes, receiving 64.25 million votes to Flávio Bolsonaro’s 59.83 million, according to Al Jazeera.
The Liberal Party recognised the results “as proclaimed by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE)” in a statement late Monday, according to The Hindu. The party also said concerns needed to be addressed.
Flávio Bolsonaro has not formally conceded. According to Al Jazeera, he said he would request that the elections be annulled and take legal action, calling a voting extension “unacceptable.”
Voting was extended by two hours after Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin agreed to requests from both campaigns. An Al Jazeera analysis by Pedro Burgos, a professor at Insper, found the extension added about 35,000 votes.
Trump told reporters in Washington that the election “looked terrible to me” and was “like another rigged election frankly,” but said he “did not take sides,” according to The Hindu.
Flávio Bolsonaro said police ordered him to surrender his passports. Al Jazeera reports this was apparently after a Supreme Court justice acted on a comment by his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro. Flávio Bolsonaro said he had no intention of leaving the country.
Brazil’s markets tumbled nearly 17% and the dollar surged against the real after Lula’s re-election, as investors worried about fiscal discipline, according to The Hindu.
Flávio Bolsonaro’s father, Jair Bolsonaro, refused to acknowledge his 2022 defeat to Lula. He is serving a 27-year sentence on coup-related charges, according to Al Jazeera and The Hindu. Separately, Brazilian police are probing Flávio Bolsonaro over alleged corruption linked to financing the biopic “Dark Horse” about his father, per Al Jazeera.
Folha de S Paulo reportedly reported that legal advisers and allies had convinced Flávio Bolsonaro to abandon his bid to annul the result, citing the margin of victory and validation by the Supreme Court and election authorities, according to Al Jazeera. His office has not responded to the report, which sits at odds with his stated plan to seek annulment.
The sources do not include an official response from the Supreme Court or the TSE to Trump’s remarks. Much of the key detail rests on Al Jazeera and The Hindu, and no other outlet’s reporting is cited.
It remains unclear whether Flávio Bolsonaro will pursue his legal challenge or formally concede. The passport order and the police probe are continuing.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.