Bolsonaro Won't Concede to Lula as Party Accepts Result and Trump Calls Vote 'Rigged'

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil's Liberal Party has acknowledged the result of Sunday's presidential runoff and recognized President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory. Its candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, has not conceded.

Party president Valdemar Costa Neto said in a statement Monday that the party accepts the results but believes "questions raised about the vote" still need to be clarified. The statement came as President Donald Trump questioned the election's legitimacy. "I didn't take sides, but it looked like another rigged election," Trump told reporters Monday. He offered no evidence of fraud.

Bolsonaro first said he would seek to annul the results, pointing to alleged irregularities, including a last-minute extension of voting hours. On Sunday the Supreme Court ordered polling stations to stay open two more hours, until 7 p.m., after an appeal by Lula's campaign, which cited public transportation disruptions. Bolsonaro's campaign had also asked for an extension because of heavy rain in southern Brazil. In a video posted Monday, he shifted course and said he would try to have Lula's win disqualified over alleged abuses of political and economic power. "The law must apply to everyone," he said. "The competition must be fair and equal, which did not happen." He provided no evidence.

Bolsonaro also said the Federal Police ordered him to surrender his passports after he visited his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, in Brasília, and that he is barred from leaving the country. "I was ordered right on the street to hand over my passports," he said. He said the order was based on remarks by his brother Eduardo, who lives in the United States, suggesting Flávio should leave Brazil if he lost. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes issued the order in connection with a separate investigation. Jair Bolsonaro is under house arrest after being sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in the 2022 coup attempt against Lula.

Lula won just over 51% of the valid votes, about 64.2 million, to more than 48% for Bolsonaro, nearly 59.8 million. The result is a major comeback for a candidate who trailed in the first round and puts the brakes on a run of right-wing electoral victories in Latin America. Gains in major cities, including Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, helped Lula overcome his first-round deficit. He picked up more than 10 million additional votes compared with the first round, helped by higher turnout and by voters who had backed other candidates or had stayed home.

In his victory speech in São Paulo, Lula thanked the country's young people. "They took to the streets to defend democracy in the country," he said. Seventeen-year-old Brisa Pereira, who cast her first vote at a busy polling place in a Brasília suburb, said she wanted to send a message to Trump and his push to dominate Latin America. "It's not the '90s anymore," she said. "We have rights, and Donald Trump can't speak for all of America."

Thiago Vidal, a political analyst with Prospectiva consultants, called it "a nationwide victory, a systemic victory — from top to bottom, and from left to right." He said the margin gives Lula a mandate but that the next four years will be hard. Bolsonaro's Liberal Party made significant gains in Congress, which leaves Lula facing a conservative opposition and a deeply divided electorate. Vidal also credited a shift to digital campaigning in the final weeks, much of it led by Congressman André Janones, for helping Lula connect with voters beyond traditional media.