Lula Wins a Fourth Term in Brazil as Bolsonaro Refuses to Concede. Accept the Count, Then Win the Argument.
Brazil's Lula da Silva won a fourth term in Sunday's runoff, but Flávio Bolsonaro refuses to concede and will seek to annul the result.
The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a fourth term Sunday, narrowly beating right-wing Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro in a runoff. With all votes counted, Lula had 51.79% to Bolsonaro's 48.21%, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court announced, the BBC reported. Turkey's Anadolu Agency, citing earlier results with nearly all polling stations tallied, put the margin at more than 4 million votes, according to its morning briefing.
Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, has not conceded. He has announced that his legal team will formally petition to annul the runoff, Anadolu reported. He called the two-hour extension of voting "inexplicable," even though his own campaign, as well as Lula's, had asked for polling stations to stay open longer, according to the BBC.
A comeback, and a hard road ahead
Bolsonaro won the first round on Oct. 4 with 47.03% of valid votes to Lula's 45.16%, Anadolu reported. Lula's campaign came back over three weeks, driven by street demonstrations and a heavy social media push, the BBC reported.
Lula served as president from 2003 through 2010 and again since January 2023. His new term begins Jan. 5, 2027. He will govern alongside what the BBC called the most right-wing Congress in Brazil's democratic era, and Bolsonaro's Liberal Party made the biggest gains in the election. He will be 85 by the end of the term, the BBC reported.
What it means for Washington
Brazil, a country of 213 million people, holds the world's second-largest reserves of rare earth minerals and is the only big South American country without a right-wing leader. Lula is widely seen as friendly to China, the BBC reported. President Donald Trump did not directly endorse Bolsonaro, as he did with winning right-wing candidates in Colombia and Honduras. But the BBC said there is little doubt his administration would have preferred a conservative in Brasília.
Bolsonaro had promised to align Brazil more closely with Washington. Lula warned the United States not to interfere and said Brazil would "never fit into anyone's backyard," according to the BBC.
Opinion: Accept the count, then win the argument
I will not pretend to be neutral about Lula. He is a man of the left, and his friendliness toward China gives conservatives good reason to worry about Brazil's direction. Many Brazilians clearly agree. Nearly half of the country voted against him, and conservatives gained ground in Congress.
But an election is not a game you only respect when your side wins. Bolsonaro's main complaint is the two-hour extension of voting. According to the BBC, his own campaign asked for that extension. Unless he can show real evidence that the outcome was changed, the honorable course is to concede, lead the opposition and hold Lula accountable through a Congress where conservatives are strong.
Christians should remember who holds the nations. "He changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings," the prophet Daniel said. That does not mean every leader is good. It means we do not have to panic, and we do not have to tear down the institutions that protect peaceful transfers of power.
The same standard applies at home. Our own midterms are eight days away. Whether in Brasília or Washington, losers should take their disputes to court with real proof, and then accept the ruling. Peace at the polls, as I wrote in Clergy to Serve as Poll Chaplains in Nine States on Election Day, belongs to no party. Americans should pray for Brazil, and for ourselves.
