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[São Paulo stocks jump 8% and the real firms after Bolsonaro's first-round win]]> Bolsonaro won 47% of valid votes to Lula's 45%, and the two will face each other in the October 25 runoff Brazilian markets rallied sharply on Monday in response to the first round of the presidential election, in which Senator Flávio Bolsonaro finished ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, contrary to what polls had predicted. The São Paulo Stock Exchange's Bovespa index rose as much as 8% in early trading, above 208,000 points.

]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:30:00 GMT <![CDATA["The end of the PT era is decreed," says Flávio Bolsonaro after winning the first round]]> The senator pledged to cut the number of ministries and end presidential re-election, a measure that would require a constitutional amendment; he said one term would be enough for him Senator Flávio Bolsonaro celebrated his first-round victory in Brazil's presidential election in Brasília with a message focused on change. "Change, the word is change. Brazil can't take any more. The end of the PT era is decreed," he told reporters outside his campaign headquarters.

]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:18:00 GMT <![CDATA[Lula bets on education and non-voters to overturn the result in the runoff]]> “The result is often unexpected. You never get everything you wanted,” the president said from a hotel in São Paulo Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has set education, research and industrial policy as the pillars of his campaign for the October 25 runoff, and urged the more than 30 million Brazilians who abstained on Sunday to vote, after finishing behind Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round.

]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:08:00 GMT <![CDATA[Flávio Bolsonaro edges Lula in the first round; both head to an October 25 runoff]]> “Brazil wants change,” Bolsonaro said in Brasília, thanking some 56 million voters, more than his father won in the first round in 2022 Senator Flávio Bolsonaro won around 47% of valid votes in the first round of Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took about 45%, according to the Superior Electoral Court's count. As neither passed half of the valid votes, the two will face each other in a runoff on October 25.

]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2026 10:30:00 GMT <![CDATA[Trump declines to back Lula or Flávio Bolsonaro as Brazil votes]]> Trump gave vague answers. “I'm following it very closely. It's a very important country. The people of Brazil are fantastic. It's a very important election” US President Donald Trump has not endorsed either of the two leading candidates in Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, unlike in recent elections in Honduras, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica.

]]> Sun, 04 Oct 2026 08:57:00 GMT <![CDATA[Alternative media and Trump are influencing Brazilian voters]]> Bolsonaro Junior, the new face of the hard right, and Lula, in his eighties and with half the voters believing the accusations that he is a ‘thief’ By Gwynne Dyer - “Flávio Bolsonaro is Trump’s candidate and what Trump wants is to colonize Brazil, take our riches, steal our future and leave us in the dust,” claims the latest video released by President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva’s re-election campaign.

]]> Sat, 03 Oct 2026 07:36:00 GMT <![CDATA[Brazil votes with Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro tied and a small group of undecided voters holding the key]]> Brazil holds the first round of its presidential election on Sunday, with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro tied in a prospective runoff and a narrow band of undecided voters, along with abstention, able to tip the result.

]]> Sat, 03 Oct 2026 07:06:00 GMT <![CDATA[Brazil heads to the polls without a single debate between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro]]> Globo said in a statement that “successive court decisions taken moments before the debate create legal uncertainty and represent undue interference in the media's freedom to organise debates” Brazilian broadcaster Globo on Thursday cancelled, an hour before it was due to start, the last presidential debate scheduled before Sunday's first round, following a series of court rulings and the absence of both President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. The two leading candidates thus head to the polls without having faced each other in a single televised debate during the entire campaign.

]]> Fri, 02 Oct 2026 07:53:00 GMT <![CDATA[Lula remark on medical exams sparks controversy five days before the vote]]> “Men don't like to have the prostate test. They don't like the touch. Women learn to receive touch from a young age. Men don't, they're full of hang-ups,” he said A remark by Brazilian President and re-election candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva about men's reluctance to undergo prostate examinations has sparked a controversy in the final stretch of the campaign, after opposition figures linked it to child sexual abuse. Lula's campaign has taken the matter to the Superior Electoral Court.

]]> Tue, 29 Sep 2026 21:37:00 GMT <![CDATA[A falsehood about Brazil's patron saint pits Supreme Court justices against each other mid-campaign]]> Bolsonaro accused members of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil of helping the Workers' Party spread the falsehood A false report that presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro backed stripping Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as Brazil's patron saint has produced contradictory rulings from three Supreme Federal Court justices, a clash with the Catholic bishops' conference and a dispute dominating the final week of campaigning before Sunday's vote.

]]> Tue, 29 Sep 2026 21:00:00 GMT