Brazil's Liberal Party, which housed Senator Flavio Bolsonaro's presidential campaign, acknowledged the country's presidential runoff results on Monday in a statement signed by the party's head, Valdemar Costa Neto, Reuters reported. "We recognize the presidential election results," Costa Neto said. "But we believe the issues raised need to be properly clarified."

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

The recognition is a clear break from the party's own candidate. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won Sunday's runoff with 64,256,232 votes, or 51.79% of valid votes, against Bolsonaro's 59,826,041 votes (48.21%) — a margin of about 4.4 million votes — according to Brazil's electoral court (TSE) figures reported in coverage of the count. Reuters reported on Sunday, citing the electoral authority, that the leftist president had defeated the right-wing senator to secure a fourth non-consecutive term.

Source: Reuters via KELO / TSE figures via Pollar News

Late on Sunday, Bolsonaro had refused to concede, calling the Supreme Court's decision to extend voting by two hours unacceptable and asking for the election results to be annulled, AP reported. The extension had been granted by Justice Cristiano Zanin after requests linked to transport problems and heavy rain; fewer than 35,000 votes — about 0.03% of the total — were cast in the extra two hours, according to an analysis of electoral records by Insper professor Pedro Burgos reported by Reuters.

Source: AP via The Hindu BusinessLine / Reuters via Devdiscourse

US President Donald Trump weighed in on Monday. "I didn't take sides, but it looked like another rigged election," Trump told reporters, without providing any evidence. "It looked very bad to me." Trump did not endorse Bolsonaro ahead of the vote, although Reuters has reported that officials from his State Department led a campaign to return the Bolsonaros to power, according to the Reuters report carried by Devdiscourse.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

Bolsonaro himself has not commented publicly since his party's statement, Reuters reported. Earlier on Monday he said he would comply with a federal police order to hand over his passports following a visit to his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest, and denied he was planning to flee Brazil.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

Brazilian press reports said party leaders advised Bolsonaro to drop the annulment challenge and that he backed away from it a day after the vote, while still planning a lawsuit accusing Lula of abusing public power. "I will indeed ask for the removal of Lula's ticket for all the abuses he committed," he said in a video posted on social media, according to those reports. Leaders from Brussels to Beijing and Moscow, along with most right-leaning presidents in Latin America, have sent congratulations to Lula, the reports said.

Source: Brazilian press reports via Pollar News

The dispute now moves from the street to the courts and to governing. Lula, who turns 81 this month, is due to begin his new term on 5 January 2027 and will face a Congress described in coverage as the most right-leaning in recent memory. Folha de Sao Paulo, cited in the reports, assessed that his biggest foreign-policy challenge will be relations with the United States during the remaining two years of Trump's presidency, with US tariffs of 37.5% on Brazilian goods among the main problems, while Brasilia wants US investment in processing critical minerals and intends to keep close economic ties with China, Brazil's largest trading partner.

Source: Folha de Sao Paulo via Pollar News