DOMINANT ANGLE
The United States is gauging Lula's victory in light of Trump's influence: the Brazilian election is being presented as a setback to the regional conservative wave and American pressure.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Lula wins with 51.8% of valid votes against 48.2% for Flávio Bolsonaro, according to the Superior Electoral Tribunal cited by CNBC.
- 02
Judge Cristiano Zanin extended voting by two hours after requests from both camps (buses for Lula, rain for Bolsonaro), according to CBS News and NPR.
- 03
Flávio Bolsonaro refuses to recognize the result and wants to request its annulment, CNBC reported according to Reuters.
ANALYSIS
Washington, October 26, 2026. The US press is treating the re-election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a test of Donald Trump's influence in Latin America. According to the AP, picked up by CBS and HuffPost, Sunday's October 25 runoff was to determine whether the United States would "significantly" expand its growing influence in the region, after Trump's allies won in Chile, Peru, and Colombia.
The result is presented as a setback. CNBC reports that Lula obtained 51.8% of the valid votes against 48.2% for Flávio Bolsonaro, according to the Superior Electoral Court, and that this is the first time since 1989 that a candidate who lost in the first round has won in the second. Reuters, via HuffPost, speaks of a "shocking" result that defied polls and slowed a wave of right-wing victories. Axios sees a preserved counterweight to Trump, with trade tensions that should persist: after new 25% tariffs imposed this summer, Lula had called his rival a "Trump candidate". NPR notes that the re-elected president said that Brazil would not accept being "anyone's backyard".
The controversy comes second. Fox News writes that the two-hour extension of voting, ordered by Judge Cristiano Zanin, "will certainly be reviewed" and that the Bolsonaro camp will say it favored Lula; the channel recalls that Lula cited non-operating buses, while his opponent had requested an extension due to heavy rain. CNBC, according to Reuters, indicates that Flávio Bolsonaro deemed the decision "unacceptable" and wants to have the election annulled; Axios specifies that his comments are known through translations.
US media are also putting the victory into Lula's trajectory, 80, who was imprisoned in 2018-2019 and then returned to power in 2022. Reuters mentions an electorate tired of corruption scandals and price increases. Analysts cited by CNBC, including a researcher from the Royal United Services Institute, estimate that Trump would have preferred a Brazil more aligned with US foreign policy. Bloomberg, finally, headlines with markets "on alert" and falling real futures contracts, without detailing the extent of the movement.
