Flávio Bolsonaro Refuses To Concede, Demands Annulment As Police Ask For His Passports

Lula’s 51.78–48.21 runoff win made him the first Brazilian to take the presidency after losing the first round. A day later his defeated opponent calls the result impossible to recognize — and Brazilian markets have crashed on the uncertainty.

BRASÍLIA — Brazil’s defeated presidential candidate refused on Monday to accept the result that returned Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to power, demanded that the election be annulled, and said federal police had asked him to surrender his passports — one day after a runoff that finished 51.78 per cent to 48.21 per cent and sent Brazilian markets into their steepest fall of the year.

The Result He Is Refusing

Lula’s victory on Sunday, by roughly 4.4 million votes, made him the first candidate since direct elections returned to Brazil in 1989 to win the presidency after losing the first round. It is his fourth term in the office, won at 80; he turns 81 on Tuesday. The Davies Daily reported the result on Sunday night. What changed on Monday is that the losing side declined to close the book.

‘Impossible To Recognize’

“It is impossible to recognize the election result,” Flávio Bolsonaro said. “We will ask for this election to be annulled.” His case rests on a last-minute ruling by Justice Cristiano Zanin that extended voting by two hours on Sunday. The Times reported that Bolsonaro’s own party had also requested the extension, and that the votes cast in the added hours numbered fewer than 35,000 — a small fraction of the margin. The president of the electoral court said the extension did not affect the result, the Associated Press reported.

The Passport Request

On Monday, Bolsonaro said federal police had requested that he surrender his passports, after a visit to his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is in prison. Flávio Bolsonaro said he would comply with the request and denied that he was planning to flee the country. He attributed the order to Justice Alexandre de Moraes, and to a remark by his brother Eduardo on a podcast that Flávio should leave Brazil if he lost. The electoral court and the federal police did not reply to Reuters’ requests for comment.

The Markets

Investors did not wait for the courts. The real fell 6.6 per cent against the dollar, to 5.41; the principal United States–listed Brazil fund fell 19.8 per cent, and Petrobras shares fell 14 per cent in New York trading. In São Paulo, the exchange halted trading for 30 minutes during a fall in the Ibovespa index that one market wrap measured at 13.9 per cent.

What Happens Next

The annulment demand goes to the electoral court that has already said the late-voting extension changed nothing. Lula is due to be sworn in on January 1 for the fourth time, in a country whose transfer of power now runs through a courtroom as well as a count. Until the court rules, Brazil has a president-elect, a defeated candidate under a passport request, and a market pricing both facts at once.

The Brazil Refusal In Short

Flávio Bolsonaro refuses to concede the runoff he lost 51.78–48.21 and will ask the electoral court to annul the election.
His complaint targets a two-hour voting extension his own party also requested; fewer than 35,000 votes were cast in the added hours.
He says federal police have asked for his passports after he visited his imprisoned father; he says he will comply and is not fleeing.
Brazilian markets crashed on the uncertainty: the real fell 6.6 per cent and trading was halted in São Paulo.

Sources: Reuters, CNN, The Times and the Associated Press, October 26, 2026.