Bolsonaro's Party Accepts Brazil Election Result as Trump Calls Vote 'Rigged'

Brazil held its presidential runoff between left-wing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Lula won with 64.25 million votes against Bolsonaro's 59.83 million, a margin of roughly 4.4 million ballots. Bolsonaro refused to concede, citing a Supreme Court justice's decision to extend voting hours by two hours as grounds to seek an annulment. The extension had been requested by both campaigns and was granted by Justice Cristiano Zanin, whom Lula appointed to the court in 2023 and who previously served as Lula's personal lawyer. However, Liberal Party leader Valdemar Costa Neto announced that the party formally recognised the results, while still calling for clarification on the circumstances of the vote. US President Donald Trump added to the controversy by telling reporters the election "looked like another rigged election, frankly," though he said he "did not take sides" in the race. Academic analysis quickly undermined the annulment argument: Professor Pedro Burgos of the Brazilian educational institute Insper found the extended hours generated only around 35,000 additional votes — less than 0.03 percent of the total cast — well below Lula's winning margin. Reports also indicated that legal advisers had urged Bolsonaro to abandon his annulment effort given the large margin of victory and its validation by the Supreme Court and election authorities. Bolsonaro separately confirmed that federal police had asked him to surrender his passports, and he said he would comply and had no plans to leave the country.