Flavio Bolsonaro is refusing to concede defeat to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who bested him by nearly 4.4 million votes, following a chaotic delay in poll closing times ordered by a Supreme Court justice.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a vocal critic Donald Trump, was reelected Sunday in a result that provides relief to critics of widening U.S. influence in Latin America.

With 100% of the vote counted, Brazil’s electoral court announced that the soon to be 81-year-old Lula had a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes over opponent Flávio Bolsonaro, giving him 51.8% of the total vote. Bolsonaro quickly refused to concede defeat and asked for the election results to be annulled after an evening of chaos at some polling places that followed a last-minute decision to extend voting by two hours.

Bolsonaro is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula defeated to take the presidency in 2022.

Lula’s triumph bucks a regional trend of victories for right-of-center presidential candidates allied with Trump. It also means Latin America’s largest economy, with a GDP of $2.6 trillion per year, will likely continue defying Trump’s demands, despite the pressure of increased tariffs.

  • DMCMNFIBFFF@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    20 hours ago

    Things I think helped Trump in 2016, and to an extent 2020:

    1. Be a celebrity on television.
    2. Be a billionaire, run in one of the parties, attack all the others running in the primaries, and imply that if you don’t get the nomination, you’ll run as an independent. I think Trump would rather Clinton have won than any other Republican running for President. The GOP didn’t want another 1992, so they gave into him.
    3. Pick the low-hanging fruit. Attack Muslims when Islamic State were committing atrocities, SJWs, and corrupt Democrats (of which there were/are plenty). Exploit weaknesses.
    4. America Uber Alles. Americans don’t need the world.
    5. Luck is a factor.