PoliticsBrazil
Brazil elections: Merz, world leaders congratulate Lula on his win
Published 10/25/2026Published October 25, 2026
Brazilian President Lula secured a surprise win over far-right challenger Flavio Bolsonaro, whose party recognizes Lula's election victory.
What you need to know
Left-wing incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defeated Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of the far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro
It was a tight runoff, with Lula winning 51.7% of the vote against Bolsonaro’s 48.2%, official results showed
In his victory speech, Lula urged more regulation of big tech platforms after allegations that Meta interfered in the race
Bolsonaro refused to concede, but his party recognizes Lula's victory
Trading was suspended on the stock market for half an hour on Monday morning as shares and Brazil's real currency tumbled
Several Latin American leaders congratulated Lula on win
Germany's Merz said he looks forward to 'deepening strategic ties' with Brazil
US President Trump said the vote 'looked terrible,' but added, 'I like Lula'
This blog is now closed.
Keep reading for developments from the second round of Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, October 25, with continued coverage into Monday, October 26.
10/27/2026October 27, 2026
Thank you or obrigado for following our live news blog coverage of the Brazilian presidential election runoff.
We're sure to have more coverage of Brazilian politics, Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro in the coming days and weeks.
Stay tuned for more with DW.
10/27/2026October 27, 2026
Bolsonaro's party recognizes Lula's election victory
Patrick Große
Brazil's Liberal Party has acknowledged President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's election victory, breaking with its own candidate Flavio Bolsonaro, who has refused to concede defeat.
"We recognize the presidential election results," party leader Valdemar Costa Neto said in a statement on Monday. "But we believe the issues raised need to be properly clarified."
The statement marks a clear break with Bolsonaro's position. The senator has vowed to seek the annulment of Sunday's runoff result, claiming that a two-hour extension of voting favored Lula.
The extension was ordered due to transport problems in several cities that made it difficult for voters to reach polling stations. Bolsonaro's own campaign had also requested more voting time in some regions because of heavy rainfall.
According to electoral officials, the extension did not change the outcome of the election.
Bolsonaro has yet to publicly respond to his party's statement.
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
Flavio Bolsonaro says he is banned from leaving Brazil after election defeat
Patrick Große
Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro says he has been ordered to surrender his passports and is banned from leaving the country.
The right-wing senator said federal police approached him after he visited his imprisoned father, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
"I was ordered right on the street to hand over my passports, and I'm also prohibited from leaving the country," Bolsonaro said in a video posted on social media.
He called the move "a clear attempt to intimidate me" and claimed the order came from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Neither the court nor federal police immediately confirmed the reported ruling.
Bolsonaro said the decision was based on comments by his brother Eduardo, who had suggested he should leave Brazil if he lost the election. He denied having any plans to flee the country and said he would comply with the order.
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
Trump says Brazil vote 'looked terrible to me' but adds, 'I like Lula'
Ask, and you shall receive — sometimes anyway! Now a senior US government representative has commented on Brazil's vote.
Leaving Washington for a midterm election campaign rally, President Donald Trump told reporters that it "looked terrible" to him.
"I didn't take sides but it looked like another rigged election frankly... it looked so corrupt, so terrible," he said.
Asked by a reporter if he wanted to "do something about the election," Trump seemed to suggest he did not, albeit repeating his criticism of the mechanics of the vote.
"Well, I'm not running Brazil. I'm running the USA. I just thought that the election was, uh — I like Lula, I get along with him very well — I just think it had a very bad look, the election. The way it was tabulated, you know? The extension given was very strange."
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
US yet to comment on Brazil election
As of 3:20 p.m. in Washington D.C. (1920 GMT), the upper echelons of US government were yet to respond to the election in Brazil on Sunday.
The only October 26 State Department press releases concerned Austria's national day and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's planned trip to Georgia later in the week for a G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
Rubio had not opined on his social media channels and US President Donald Trump's Truth Social account — which only tends to pick up on stories with a tape delay unless they involve Trump directly — had remained inactive since Sunday night.
Lula and his Workers' Party often had strained relations with US governments, especially Republican ones, but this has been particularly pronounced in Trump's case.
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
Recap — Why is Bolsonaro crying foul after the voting extension?
Just joining us and wondering how Brazil's runoff vote had a considerably clearer margin of victory than predicted and yet still ended in controversy and the losing candidate refusing to concede defeat?
Challenger Flavio Bolsonaro's objections were focused around the evening extension of voting past the planned closing time of 5 p.m. across the country.
The decisions by a Lula-appointed Supreme Court justice on Sunday followed a complaint over allegations of pro-Bolsonaro mayors being behind public transport irregularities that may have hampered people's plans to vote.
On election night, Bolsonaro then told journalists it was "impossible to recognize the election results, given the circumstances under which things unfolded."
For now it's unclear whether, as the dust settles, Bolsonaro will continue to resist the outcome and try to encourage protests in the way his now-jailed father Jair Bolsonaro did four years ago.
But two factors in particular seem to speak against the prospects of a potential Bolsonaro challenge.
Firstly, his fairly sizeable margin of defeat — losing by slightly more than 4 million votes rather than just a few thousand — makes it much more unlikely that a two-hour extension at polling stations could have even the theoretical potential of swaying the result.
And beyond that, his camp appealed for and successfully secured permission to keep polling stations open in some of Bolsonaro's southern strongholds, after torrential rains interfered with would-be voters' travel plans.
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
African leaders congratulate Lula, seek to 'advance shared interests'
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was one of several African leaders to congratulate Lula on Monday, saying that his renewed mandate offered an opportunity to strengthen bilateral ties.
"As two leading nations of the Global South, we can promote economic integration and advance our shared interests in a rapidly changing global order," Tinubu said online, saying he looked forward to expanding cooperation in a raft of areas.
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu also extended her "sincere congratulations" to Lula.
"Tanzania values its longstanding friendship with Brazil, and looks forward to continue building on this foundation to further strengthen bilateral relations and deepen cooperation, for the mutual benefit of our two nations," Suluhu said.
Seychelles President Patrick Herminie called the runoff election result "a powerful affirmation of the trust the Brazilian people have placed in President Lula's leadership," in comments published by his office online.
He said Lula's win was "a testament to his lifelong commitment to the dignity and well-being of ordinary men and women," saying the Seychelles shared Lula's values like "social justice, equality of opportunity, the protection of workers and the most vulnerable, and a model of development that places people at its center."
Herminie expressed a desire to deepen bilateral cooperation, particularly in tackling climate change, protecting the oceans and advancing the interests of the Global South.
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
Putin congratulates Lula, praising his 'personal contribution' to bilateral ties
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered congratulations to Lula in a telegram published by the Kremlin on Monday.
"It is difficult to overstate your personal contribution to strengthening the strategic partnership between Brazil and Russia," the telegram stated.
Putin, a leader of a fellow BRICS alliance member, is one of few world leaders to have worked with Lula across all of his presidential terms, starting in 2003.
Putin also congratulated Lula on his upcoming 81st birthday, which falls on Tuesday.
The Russian president's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow earlier in the day that the Kremlin welcomed Lula's re-election.
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
WATCH: Brazil's Lula celebrates election victory as Bolsonaro rejects results
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won a historic fourth term after defeating far-right rival Flavio Bolsonaro in a runoff election.
It's a historic political comeback for Lula who trailed in the first round.
DW reports from Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil's Lula celebrates election victory as Bolsonaro rejects results
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
Sao Paulo stock exchange halts trading over sharp drop after Lula win
Trading on the Sao Paulo stock exchange, the largest in Latin America, was suspended for 30 minutes on Monday after plummeting nearly 17% in the wake of the re-election of left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated conservative Flavio Bolsonaro.
The sharp drop in the benchmark Ibovespa index triggered a 30-minute "circuit breaker" mechanism provided for "periods of sharp market decline," according to a stock exchange statement.
Meanwhile, the US dollar surged 12% against Brazil's currency, one of the real's biggest daily moves on record.
Prices of raw sugar, one of Brazil's most important exports, slid nearly 5% on the collapsing exchange rate.
Prediction markets had indicated a Bolsonaro win but the right-wing senator's refusal to concede defeat and his pledge to challenge the election result have added to investor uncertainty.
"Important for local financial markets will be how quickly Bolsonaro accepts the result, or at least allows the constitution to run its course," Chris Turner, a strategist at ING in London, told the Reuters news agency as attention turned to Lula's choice of finance minister — a clue as to his fiscal approach.
"The key signal for markets will be the next Lula administration's commitment to fiscal discipline, starting with the appointment of a new finance minister in coming weeks," RBC BlueBay Asset Management's Graham Stock told Reuters.
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
Germany's Merz wants to deepen 'the strategic partnership' with Brazil
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has joined the chorus of world leaders congratulating Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his re-election.
"I look forward to further deepening the strategic partnership between Germany and Brazil together," Merz said in a message posted on X.
Germany and Brazil held government consultations in Hannover in April of this year, at which Merz and Lula agreed to cooperate more closely on defense and raw materials, among other things.
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
Brazilian markets poised for sharp drop Monday after Lula win
Brazilian markets are bracing for heavy selling on Monday, with futures of Brazil's benchmark stock index Bovespa falling nearly 15% in early Monday trading
On global markets, the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF, which tracks a basket of major Brazilian stocks, plunged as much as 26% in premarket trading as investors unwind bets on a right-wing victory.
Brazilian Real November futures also fell 10% in Asian trading, while US-listed shares of Brazilian stocks dropped as well, with energy giant Petrobras plunging more than 20% and banking group Itau Unibanco cratering almost 30%.
Investors had seen election loser Flavio Bolsonaro as the candidate most likely to boost markets with fiscal austerity and deregulation, while Lula has pursued policies of redistribution and state-led development, including costly welfare programs.
10/26/2026October 26, 2026
Russia says it welcomes Lula's re-election
The Kremlin said on Monday it welcomed Lula's victory and praised what it said were his efforts to cultivate Brazil-Russia ties.
"We welcome Mr. Lula's victory. He does a lot, not only for the development of bilateral relations but also for advancing processes within the framework of BRICS," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He said Russia hoped for more of the same.
