Person
Flávio Bolsonaro
- Follow-up: Defeated Brazilian candidate Flávio Bolsonaro arrives in the US; Lula calls his departure 'shameful'
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday's presidential election to Lula by more than 4 million votes, arrived in the United States on Tuesday, Oct 27, joining his brother Eduardo Bolsonaro in Florida. A senior US State Department official confirmed visas will be issued to him and his family. Brazil's Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender his passports, and after the deadline passed they were cancelled, including his official senatorial passport; he faces money laundering and tax evasion investigations in Brazil, which he denies. Eduardo was sentenced in absentia in June to four years and Brazil has issued an arrest warrant for him. Lula said on Tuesday: 'Anyone who leaves their country in secret must be hiding something; leaving Brazil is shameful.'
Oct 28, 2026 Afternoon - Follow-up: Defeated Brazilian candidate Flávio Bolsonaro reportedly flies to the US; police say his passports were cancelled
Right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday's presidential election to incumbent President Lula, flew to the United States on Tuesday, Oct 27, planning to land in Florida and seek political asylum, according to Brazilian news site Metrópoles and Folha de S.Paulo; CNN Brasil said he was travelling with his wife and two daughters. Police sources told AFP that his passports had been cancelled but there was no official record of his departure, and Argentina's security ministry denied he had entered Argentina. Workers' Party lawmakers asked the Supreme Court to order his arrest and to seek an Interpol red notice. The 45-year-old will lose his parliamentary immunity.
Oct 28, 2026 Morning - Follow-up: Brazil Supreme Court justice orders defeated Flávio Bolsonaro to surrender passports; his party accepts result
President Lula beat right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro by more than 4.4 million votes in Brazil's runoff on Sunday, Oct 25. The Guardian reported that a Supreme Court justice barred Flávio from leaving the country and ordered him to surrender his passports hours after the result, citing a federal police investigation into possible money laundering. Flávio said the ruling stemmed from his brother urging him in an interview to leave Brazil if he lost. The president of his Liberal Party said on Monday that it accepts the result declared by the electoral court.
Oct 27, 2026 Afternoon - Follow-up: Trump calls Brazil election 'rigged' after Lula beats Flávio Bolsonaro; Ibovespa plunges nearly 17% at open
In Brazil's presidential runoff on Sunday, Oct 25, President Lula beat Flávio Bolsonaro 51.8% to 48.2% to win a fourth term. Leaving Washington on Oct 26, President Trump told reporters it 'looks like another rigged election'. Brazil's Ibovespa index fell nearly 17% at the open on Oct 26, triggering a 30-minute trading halt, and the real at one point fell nearly 12% against the dollar in early trading. TASS, citing Folha de S.Paulo, reported that Flávio dropped a demand to annul the result after allies persuaded him, and he said police had told him not to leave Brazil and to hand over his passport.
Oct 27, 2026 Morning - Follow-up: Lula beats Flávio Bolsonaro 51.79% to 48.21% to win a fourth term as Brazil's president
Brazil's Superior Electoral Court confirmed after the count that President Lula won 51.79% of valid votes in the Oct 25 runoff, defeating right-wing senator Flávio Bolsonaro on 48.21% to win a fourth term. It is the first time since direct elections returned in 1989 that a candidate who lost the first round went on to win the runoff. Lula, 80, called the result 'a defeat of denialism', while Flávio's camp reportedly refused to concede and said it would seek to annul the election; Lula turns 81 this week and his new term begins in January.
Oct 26, 2026 Afternoon - Follow-up: Brazil extends presidential runoff voting by 2 hours at Lula campaign's request; electoral court suspends release of partial results
Brazil held the second round of its presidential election on Sunday, Oct 25, with about 160 million voters choosing between President Lula and right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro. A Supreme Court justice granted the Lula campaign's request to extend voting by 2 hours to 7pm Brasília time, and the Superior Electoral Court then suspended release of some partial results. Flávio, 45, led in the first round; his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence. Lula turns 81 on Tuesday, and final results had not yet been announced.
Oct 26, 2026 Morning - Follow-up: Brazil votes in presidential runoff; Reuters says two US State Department officials pushed behind the scenes for a Bolsonaro family return
Brazil holds its presidential runoff on Sunday, Oct 25, between incumbent President Lula and senator Flávio Bolsonaro, with pre-election polls showing them close. Reuters, citing 10 current and former US officials, reported that a Western Hemisphere affairs senior adviser and a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department worked behind the scenes to help the Bolsonaro family regain power and sought sanctions that could influence the race. Folha de S.Paulo reported that Meta employees acknowledged in internal messages that Lula's Instagram account was affected by restrictions and that the platform recommended Flávio's page and WhatsApp channel; Meta said the technical issues had long been public and that any claim Meta favoured one side was false. Figures in the Brazilian presidency worry that if Lula wins, Milei's government in Argentina might not recognise the result.
Oct 25, 2026 Afternoon - Follow-up: Brazil votes in presidential runoff as Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro are virtually tied in polls
After the first round on Oct 4, about 159 million Brazilian voters return to the polls on Sunday, Oct 25, to choose between incumbent President Lula and far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who led the first round 47% to 45%. A CNT/MDA poll released on Saturday put Flávio at 46.3% and Lula at 45%, with a 2.2-point margin of error, while a Datafolha poll on Thursday had them at 50% each. Tens of thousands of Lula supporters rallied on Copacabana beach in Rio on the eve of the vote; since Brazil returned to democracy in the 1980s, no candidate trailing after the first round has won the runoff.
Oct 25, 2026 Morning - Follow-up: Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro trade insults in final TV debate before Brazil's Oct 25 presidential runoff
Brazil's presidential runoff is set for Sunday, Oct 25, and the last TV debate before the vote was held by TV Globo in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, Oct 23. La Nación reported that Flávio Bolsonaro called Lula the 'nine-finger president' while Lula called his rival a 'militiaman', and El País said Lula put Bolsonaro on the defensive. The latest polls show the pair at roughly 50-50, while on prediction market Polymarket Flávio's chance of winning stood at 79% and Lula's at 20%.
Oct 24, 2026 Afternoon - Follow-up: Brazil's Oct 25 runoff: Datafolha poll puts Flavio Bolsonaro at 47% and Lula at 45%; each camp seeks the other's disqualification
La Nación reported a Datafolha poll released on Oct 22 showed right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro on 47% and President Lula on 45% ahead of Sunday's runoff, within the margin of error, compared with 49% for Bolsonaro in the Oct 8 poll. BBC reported Lula's campaign petitioned the Superior Electoral Court on Wednesday seeking Bolsonaro's disqualification, alleging Meta restricted its content to help him, while Bolsonaro's camp sought Lula's disqualification over mass distribution of government posts on WhatsApp. Meta denied treating them differently; a report led by the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression said data showed accounts linked to one side faced disproportionate restrictions.
Oct 23, 2026 Morning - Follow-up: Brazil Foreign Ministry accuses Milei of election interference after he suggests Lula may 'steal' the vote
Buenos Aires Times reported that Argentine President Javier Milei wrote on X on Oct 20 that he hoped Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's 'latest dirty campaign tricks' did not include 'stealing the election', calling him a 'leftist thief'. Brazil's Foreign Ministry that day rejected Milei's 'insults' as 'another unacceptable attempt at external interference in Brazil's democratic process'. Lula faces Flávio Bolsonaro in the Oct 25 presidential runoff; Milei called Lula a 'thief' and 'criminal' when attending Flávio's campaign launch in July, and Brazil had already downgraded bilateral diplomatic relations.
Oct 21, 2026 Afternoon - Brazil runoff on Sunday: Lula challenges Flávio Bolsonaro to release bank and phone records
Brazil's presidential runoff is on Oct 25, with President Lula, about to turn 81, seeking a fourth non-consecutive term against 45-year-old senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who led the first round with 47% to Lula's 45%. Campaigning in Maranhão on Oct 20, Lula proposed that both candidates and their families publish their bank, tax and phone records if Flávio agreed. A corruption scandal involving a banker has become a focus of the campaign, with Flávio the only major candidate directly linked to him; Flávio wrote 'corrupto' on his palm in a TV debate, and social media users copied the gesture by posting palms with their own jobs written on them.
Oct 21, 2026 Morning - Follow-up: Brazil runoff poll puts Flávio Bolsonaro at 46.5%, Lula 45.9%; electoral court gives Meta a day to prove neutrality
A BTG/Nexus poll released on Oct 19 for the Oct 25 presidential runoff showed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro at 46.5% and incumbent President Lula at 45.9%, a 0.6-point gap. The same day Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) ordered Meta to show within 24 hours that its content feeds do not favour either candidate, and raised the daily fine for continued non-compliance with earlier orders from 500,000 reais (about $100,000) to 1 million reais. The case stems from a complaint by Lula's campaign that Meta limited promotion and search visibility of his Instagram profile.
Oct 20, 2026 Morning - Brazil runoff first debate: Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula trade corruption accusations
Brazil's presidential runoff is next Sunday. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, and incumbent President Lula held their first face-to-face debate for more than two hours on Band TV in São Paulo on the evening of Oct 18; both had skipped debates before the first round, breaking with custom. Spain's El País reported Flávio attacked from the start and cast himself as the change Brazil needs, while Lula stressed left-wing government results and experience; both repeatedly accused each other of corruption, and Lula courted about 33 million who abstained in the first round. TASS, citing O Globo, reported police are investigating Flávio over suspected money laundering. Brazilian X trends included '#AbreOSigiloFlavio' calling for release of his sealed records.
Oct 19, 2026 Afternoon - Brazil runoff a week away: polls show Lula tied with or ahead of Flávio Bolsonaro
Brazil's presidential runoff is set for next Sunday. Reuters reported that a PoderData poll released on Oct 16 had President Lula and right-wing Liberal Party Senator Flávio Bolsonaro at 50% each, after Flávio led by 2 points three days earlier, while Argentina's Clarín reported a Vox Brasil survey showing Lula ahead for the first time with 51% of valid votes. Lula trailed by 2 points in the Oct 4 first round and has now pledged free weekend public transport.
Oct 19, 2026 Morning