MercoPress https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif MercoPress http://en.mercopress.com/ <![CDATA[A judge appointed by Jair Bolsonaro rejects his son’s case for annulling the election]]> “Even before all these circumstances, we took all the necessary measures and were entirely successful. I repeat: there was no change resulting from the court ruling,” Nunes Marques said The president of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court, Kassio Nunes Marques, who was appointed to the Supreme Federal Court by former president Jair Bolsonaro in 2020, said on Monday that the extension of voting hours did not change the result of the runoff won by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s son, had cited the extension in refusing to recognise his defeat and calling for the election to be annulled.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:39:00 GMT <![CDATA[Debt, inflation and a hostile Congress: the economic challenges of Lula’s fourth term]]> Public debt has risen by more than ten points during the current term and exceeds 82% of GDP, driven by growing mandatory spending Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will begin his fourth term as Brazil’s president on January 1 with an economy that has grown more than expected and record-low unemployment, but with fiscal imbalances that markets punished heavily on Monday, the first trading day after his re-election. The dollar rose more than 12% at one point to 5.60 reais, the Ibovespa index triggered an automatic trading halt at the open and long-term interest rates jumped almost two points.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:29:00 GMT <![CDATA[Trump questions Lula’s victory as most of the region, including the right, congratulates him]]> “They just applied the Biden playbook in Brazil. Bolsonaro had a big lead in the first round and was the clear favourite. But communists don’t give up power once they get it,” Trump said US President Donald Trump cast doubt on Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s re-election in Brazil and compared it with the 2020 US election, while most Latin American governments, including several right-wing allies of Washington, congratulated the Brazilian president. In Argentina, President Javier Milei remained silent.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:16:00 GMT <![CDATA[Milei stays silent on Lula’s victory as Kast and Peña congratulate him]]> Neither the president nor Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno had issued a statement on the result, according to the Argentine press Argentine President Javier Milei had not congratulated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his re-election in Brazil by Monday, unlike other right-wing South American leaders such as Chile’s José Antonio Kast, Paraguay’s Santiago Peña and Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz. Milei, who publicly backed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro during the campaign, met his cabinet at the Casa Rosada first thing in the morning.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:05:00 GMT <![CDATA[Brazil’s real plunges more than 8% and São Paulo stocks slump after Lula’s victory]]> The fall in Ibovespa futures hit the permitted limit shortly after the open and forced a temporary halt in trading, prompting the São Paulo stock exchange Brazil’s real lost more than 8% against the dollar and futures on the Ibovespa index plunged 15% on Monday, in the first session after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in the election runoff, a result markets had not expected. The dollar opened up 8.64% at 5.42 reais.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:03:00 GMT <![CDATA[Lula wins Brazil’s presidency for a fourth time with 51.8% of the vote]]> Lula is the first candidate to win the presidency after coming second in the first round since Brazil returned to direct presidential elections in 1989 Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Sunday’s presidential runoff with 51.78% of valid votes against 48.22% for Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, according to the Superior Electoral Court, with 99.97% of the vote counted. Lula, 80, will govern the country for a fourth time, from 2027 to 2030, after overturning his first-round deficit.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2026 09:01:00 GMT <![CDATA[Bolsonaro refuses to recognise Lula’s victory and says he will seek to annul the election]]> “It is impossible to recognise the result of the election in the context in which these things happened. We are going to ask for these elections to be annulled,” Bolsonaro said, taking no questions Senator Flávio Bolsonaro announced on Sunday night that he does not recognise President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in Brazil’s presidential runoff and will seek to have it annulled, arguing that the extension of voting hours ordered by a Supreme Federal Court judge was irregular. Lula won with 51.78% of valid votes against 48.22%, a margin of some 4.4 million votes.

]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2026 04:26:00 GMT <![CDATA[Brazil chooses between Lula and Bolsonaro in its tightest runoff in recent history]]> Bolsonaro won the first round on October 4 with 47.03% of the vote against Lula’s 45.16%, a result that confounded the polls Nearly 160 million Brazilians are called to vote on Sunday in the presidential runoff, in which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80, seeks a fourth term against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. The two arrive level: the latest Datafolha poll gives each 50% of valid votes.

]]> Sun, 25 Oct 2026 07:02:00 GMT <![CDATA[Lula accuses Bolsonaro of “licking Trump’s boots” in the final debate]]> Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday accused his runoff rival, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, of “licking the boots” of US President Donald Trump during the last televised debate before Sunday’s election.

]]> Sun, 25 Oct 2026 01:30:00 GMT <![CDATA[Bolsonaro apologises twice to Lula in a calmer final debate as polls show a dead heat]]> The first apology came when Lula asked why he had voted against extending maternity leave as a state deputy in Rio de Janeiro. “It was a mistake,” Bolsonaro replied Senator Flávio Bolsonaro apologised twice to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the last televised debate before Sunday’s runoff in Brazil, held on Friday night on TV Globo, which was more measured in tone than the first. The candidates arrived level: the latest Datafolha poll, published on Thursday, gives each 50% of valid votes.

]]> Sun, 25 Oct 2026 00:39:00 GMT