Colombia

Bogotá, October 26, 2026. The Colombian press is covering the re-election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a continental event. El Colombiano writes that, with this triumph, Brazil "deviates from the turn to the right" taken by Argentina, Chile, or Colombia, supported by Donald Trump, and remains one of the few progressive strongholds in the region. Portafolio speaks of a brake on this conservative shift.

The figures are taken from the official results: 51.76% against 48.24% for Flávio Bolsonaro, with 99.81% of the ballots counted, a difference of more than four million votes. Portafolio highlights an unprecedented comeback: this is the first time since the end of the dictatorship (1964-1985) that a candidate who came in second in the first round wins in the second. Lula, 81, will take office on January 5. El Colombiano notes that no major poll had predicted his victory.

The events of Sunday, October 25, are detailed. Portafolio reports that Judge Cristiano Zanin, of the Federal Supreme Court, extended voting by two hours, until 7:00 p.m. local time, at the request of Lula's campaign, which denounced incidents in the transportation of voters. According to EFE, the decision was made while the vote count had already begun.

Semana gives the floor to the loser. Flávio Bolsonaro stated in Brasília: "It is impossible to recognize the result" and "I will ask for the annulment of these elections," qualifying the extension as "unacceptable" because, he says, it "changed the rules of the game with a stroke of the pen." He claims he will never know how many votes he would have obtained in the states where the polls did not reopen. The same media quotes Lula, emotional, seeing in the election "a defeat of lies" and denouncing attempts at external interference.

The economic prism is provided by La República: Lula inherits a budget deficit of 9.48% and a public debt of 82.9% of GDP, with interest rates rising to 15% to contain inflation. The newspaper also recalls an average growth of 3% between 2023 and 2025 and unemployment at historic lows. Before the vote, it mentioned accusations of American interference, which Washington denies, and the 50% tariff imposed by Trump in 2025 after Jair Bolsonaro's condemnation.