The president was reelected in the October 25 runoff. Regional leaders congratulated him; there is no message from Trump in the reports reviewed.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was reelected president of Brazil in the runoff on Sunday, October 25, 2026, and will begin his fourth term. According to press reports, he defeated right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro with about 51.7% of the vote to 48.2%. This newsroom could not open the website of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE), so the figures were not checked directly with the agency.
A comeback after losing the first round
Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, had finished first in the first round. Lula, who is nearly 81, intensified his campaign among young and undecided voters, especially on social media, according to analysts quoted by the international press. Such an outcome, with a candidate winning after finishing second in the first round, had not happened before in the country's democratic history, according to those reports.
Flávio Bolsonaro asks to annul the vote
Flávio Bolsonaro said he does not recognize the result and will ask to annul the runoff. He criticized the two-hour extension of voting hours, authorized by a Supreme Federal Court justice. According to reports, both candidates had asked for more voting time. The presidents of Brazil's Senate and Chamber of Deputies congratulated Lula and defended the electoral process. The material reviewed does not include a court ruling on the annulment request.
Reactions in the region
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X that “the people of Brazil” had won and congratulated Lula. At her Monday morning press conference, she described him as “a breath of fresh air” for Latin America and the Caribbean, according to reports.
Publication in X
Also congratulating him, according to international outlets, were the presidents of Chile, José Antonio Kast; Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi; Ecuador, Daniel Noboa; Paraguay, Santiago Peña; Panama, José Raúl Mulino; and Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz, as well as Cuba's Miguel Díaz-Canel. Outside the region, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and French President Emmanuel Macron did the same.
Among U.S. politicians, the reports mention Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Ro Khanna, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The material reviewed does not include a message from President Donald Trump; reports about his position contradict each other and are not confirmed. Donald Trump Jr. criticized the outcome over the extended voting hours.
A government without its own majority
Analysts quoted by the press say Lula will govern with a more conservative Congress than the one in 2022. The Liberal Party, aligned with Bolsonaro, won 121 of the 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 28 of the 81 in the Senate in this month's legislative elections. Lula will depend on center-right parties, the so-called “Centrão.” The challenges include inflation, rising fuel prices, and tensions with Washington.
Brazilians' vote abroad
More than 900,000 Brazilians were eligible to vote abroad, in 186 cities across 134 countries. In the polling-station results published by the TSE and compiled by the press, Lula won about 54% of valid votes cast abroad, while Flávio Bolsonaro won in the United States, Israel, and Japan.
What does it mean to you?
- If you are Brazilian in the U.S., the official result is published by Brazil's TSE; Flávio Bolsonaro announced he will challenge the vote.
- If you have family or business in Brazil, inflation and fuel prices are the economic issues the new government will face.
- Washington's position toward Brasília is still unclear in the reports reviewed.
Editor's note: Some information in this article could not be confirmed with official sources at the time of publication; it comes from reports by other media outlets or from the individuals quoted. We will update the article if the information changes.
