Overview
- The Superior Electoral Court declared Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the winner of the presidential runoff with 51.8% to 48.2%, giving him a fourth term that begins on 1 January 2027.
- Flávio Bolsonaro refused to accept the outcome and said he will seek to annul the vote through the courts, a move that keeps the result contested and prolongs political uncertainty.
- Federal judge Cristiano Zanin ordered polling stations to stay open two hours longer after reports of transport restrictions delayed voting in many cities, a decision critics cited as controversial because of Zanin’s ties to Lula.
- Financial markets reacted violently to the result with heavy sell‑offs, trading suspensions and a sharp fall in the real, and U.S. President Donald Trump publicly questioned the legitimacy of the vote.
- The Supreme Court ordered Flávio Bolsonaro to hand over his passports in a money‑laundering probe while electoral authorities and some judges defended the vote’s integrity, leaving Lula to govern with a hostile Congress and a deeply polarized country.