Setback For Trump In Brazil As 80-Year-Old Lula Wins Presidential Re-Election, Says Brazil Not America’s Backyard
80-year-old Brazilian President Defeats Trump’s Ally, Says Brazil Will Not Be Anyone’s Backyard — As Bolsonaro Rejects Result, Alleges Rigging
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been declared winner of Sunday’s presidential runoff, defeating far-right Senator Flavio Bolsonaro with 51.8 percent of the total votes.
With 100 percent of votes counted, Brazil’s electoral court announced that Lula, who will be 81 next month, polled a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes over Bolsonaro.
But his opponent, Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, has rejected the result and called for annulment after confusion at polling units following a last-minute extension of voting by two hours.
The election is seen as a major setback for U.S. President Donald Trump, whose allies have been winning across Latin America. Lula, a vocal critic of Trump, has vowed to continue defying Washington despite increased tariffs on Brazil’s $2.6 trillion economy.
“Either the homeland remains free, or we die for Brazil. This country will not accept being anyone’s backyard,” Lula told thousands of supporters who gathered in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Celebrating with First Lady Rosangela da Silva while wearing star-shaped red glasses, Lula said:
“This was a defeat for denialism and lies. I must confess that every time I attended a debate, I felt embarrassed.”
Why Bolsonaro Rejected Result
Confusion erupted on election evening after Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ruled three minutes before 5 p.m. closing time to extend voting by two hours.
Lula’s camp had requested extension over bus problems in Sao Paulo and Salvador, his strongholds, while Bolsonaro’s camp requested it over heavy rains in the South where he is favoured.
Bolsonaro, whose father Jair Bolsonaro is serving 27 years in prison for attempting a coup after losing to Lula in 2022, accused Zanin of bias.
Zanin is Lula’s former lawyer.
“It’s impossible to recognize the results of the election in the context of these things that happened,” Flavio Bolsonaro said, accusing the judge of “changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game.”
The President of the electoral court, Kassio Nunes Marques, who was appointed by Jair Bolsonaro, said the extension did not affect results.
Law Professor Joao Pedro Padua of Fluminense Federal University said Bolsonaro has no legal basis:
“The extension of voting hours is unusual, but for it to invalidate the elections, the candidate would have to prove that it affected voters’ ability to freely express their will. There doesn’t seem to have been any such impact.”
Lula, who lost the first round by over 2.2 million votes, made a historic comeback — the first time since 1985 that the second-placed candidate in first round won the presidency.
He will be sworn in for a fourth non-consecutive term on January 5, 2027, joining Trump and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega as one of the oldest presidents in the Americas at 80.
