Brazil: the count holds, the complaint gets filed

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court has Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at 51.79% and Flávio Bolsonaro at 48.21%, a margin of about 4.4 million votes³. AP reports Lula persuaded some 10 million additional voters between the rounds, and is due to take office for a fourth, non-consecutive term on 5 January 2027¹.

The complaint. Bolsonaro said what happened on Sunday “was not normal” and called for the result to be annulled². His objection is a decision by Supreme Court justice Cristiano Zanin to extend voting nationwide by two hours². Lula’s campaign had asked for the extension, citing voter transport problems; Bolsonaro’s campaign had asked for extra time too, but only in municipalities in five states hit by rain, floods and power cuts².

The rest of the world. The EU, Mexico, Canada and Russia sent congratulations; Canada’s Mark Carney wrote of “new promising commercial prospects”⁴. Donald Trump and Argentina’s Javier Milei had not publicly reacted by Monday, BBC Brasil reported⁵; Donald Trump Jr criticised the extension⁴.

The sequence is the familiar one: a count, a complaint, a court. Brazil has run it before: Jair Bolsonaro also refused to concede in 2022². The dull machinery usually wins when it is allowed to finish.