Mexico

Mexico, October 26, 2026. The Mexican press is covering Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory in the second round on Sunday, October 25, looking for what it means for the region. El Financiero, quoting Bloomberg, speaks of an "epic comeback" that "means a defeat for the advancement of the right in Latin America." According to the Superior Electoral Tribunal, Lula won with 51.77% against 48.23% for Flávio Bolsonaro, with 99.89% of the votes counted; Mexican headlines give slightly different decimals depending on the time of the cut.

The national thread is that of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who wrote on social media: "Viva la democracia, ganó el pueblo de Brasil. ¡Felicidades presidente Lula!" El Financiero draws a regional reading: Brazil and Mexico become "the last countries" governed by parties claiming to be left-wing in the face of the rise of the far right, and the two largest economies in Latin America have been moving closer since Lula's presence at Sheinbaum's inauguration on October 1, 2024.

El Informador and 8 Columnas detail the reversal: in the first round on October 4, Flávio Bolsonaro was leading with 47.03% against 45.16% for Lula; the final gap exceeds four million votes, around 4.4 million according to 8 Columnas quoting the AP agency. El Siglo de Torreón emphasizes that since the end of the dictatorship in 1985, no candidate who came in second in the first round had won the second round. 8 Columnas also notes that the Liberal Party will have 121 deputies against 88 for the PT coalition: Lula will have to negotiate with the center.

The contestation takes a back seat, but is precise. Reforma and El Norte report that Flávio Bolsonaro "will request the annulment" of the second round. El Siglo de Torreón quotes his words: "Es imposible reconocer las elecciones en esas condiciones," targeting the decision of Supreme Federal Court Judge Cristiano Zanin to extend voting by two hours, at the request of the Lula camp; he recalls that Zanin was the president's personal lawyer. El Financiero specifies that, according to its version, the two candidates had requested an extension in certain cities, due to transportation problems in nine states and heavy rains in the south.

The same newspaper notes a "chaotic" day, with denunciations of obstacles to voting, and El Siglo de Torreón mentions the arrest warrant for a Bolsonaro party official after a bus default. For the future, El Financiero judges Lula's task "almost impossible": stabilizing the region's leading economy and mitigating a polarization that the campaign has exposed.