BRASÍLIA — The fight over Brazil’s presidential election collapsed on Monday night, when the Liberal Party of defeated candidate Flávio Bolsonaro formally recognized Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in Sunday’s runoff — one day after its candidate had called the result impossible to recognize and demanded the election be annulled.
The Party Statement
“We recognize the presidential election results,” the party said in a statement signed by its president, Valdemar Costa Neto, as reported by Reuters. “But we believe the issues raised need to be properly clarified.” Flávio Bolsonaro himself has not commented publicly since the statement, and has not personally conceded. Bloomberg reporting says he has abandoned the annulment plan and will instead accuse Lula of abuse of political and economic power; that pivot is reported, not announced by him.
Grounded
The candidate is also going nowhere. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has ordered him to surrender his passports — including his diplomatic and Italian passports — barred him from leaving Brazil, and barred him from contact with a lawyer who is also under investigation. The orders are tied to a money-laundering inquiry involving betting companies. Bolsonaro, who said Monday that federal police had asked for the passports after he visited his imprisoned father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro, has denied any plan to flee and denies wrongdoing.
The Votes That Weren’t There
The dispute that powered the annulment demand was a two-hour extension of voting ordered on Sunday. The electoral court’s figures close the argument: fewer than 35,000 votes — 0.03 per cent of the total — were cast in the extension, against a winning margin of roughly 4.4 million. The final count gave Lula 51.79 per cent, 64.26 million votes, to Bolsonaro’s 48.21 per cent, 59.83 million.
The Market Wreck, In Full
Monday’s closing figures were worse than the intraday snapshots. The real fell 8.1 per cent on the day, its biggest one-day drop since 2002, closing near 5.41 to the dollar after trading past 5.60. The Ibovespa index closed down 13.88 per cent, its steepest fall since March 2020, after the São Paulo exchange halted trading under its circuit breaker for the first time since 2020. The Treasury cancelled its inflation-linked and fixed-rate bond auctions scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday, and Brazil’s credit-default-swap spread widened from 120 to 152 basis points. No reliable reading of Tuesday’s session had emerged by Tuesday morning.
Trump Weighed In
President Trump commented on the result on Monday, without offering evidence: “I didn’t take sides, but it looked like another rigged election,” he said. “The extension given was very strange.” Brazil’s vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, replied on television that the remarks were “totally wrong” and “unfounded.” Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday, takes office on January 1 for a fourth term. His party does not control Congress: the Liberal Party will hold the largest bloc in both chambers.
Brazil — In Short
Flávio Bolsonaro’s party recognized Lula’s election victory late Monday, abandoning the annulment fight its candidate had demanded a day earlier. The disputed voting extension produced fewer than 35,000 votes against a 4.4 million margin; a Supreme Court justice has taken the candidate’s passports; and Monday’s market fall — the real down 8.1 per cent, stocks down 13.88 per cent — now stands as the worst of the year.
Sources: Reuters; Bloomberg reporting; Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court figures — reporting of October 26–27, 2026.
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