Three days after Brazil's October 25 runoff, the losing candidate has left the country. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro's party now says it accepts the result. His legal fight has shifted from the vote count to how the winning campaign behaved.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the second round with 51.79% of valid votes. Bolsonaro took 48.21%. The gap was about 4.4 million votes (64.2 million to 59.8 million), according to G1's tally of Superior Electoral Court (TSE) data. Official results are published on the TSE results service. Earlier coverage of state-level turnout figures is in our report on the runoff's state court data.
From an annulment demand to abuse-of-power cases
On election night, Bolsonaro said he would not recognize the result. "It is impossible to recognize the result of the elections in the context in which these things happened; we are going to ask for the annulment of these elections," he said, as quoted by Poder360 (our translation). He objected to a ruling by Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Cristiano Zanin. Zanin extended voting by two hours, to 7 p.m., after reports of bus and transit problems. Poder360 reports that Zanin later clarified the extension applied only to polling sections that had not yet closed.
By Monday, October 26, his press office told Poder360 there was no current plan to pursue the annulment request. In a video that day, Bolsonaro said he would instead ask the electoral courts to void Lula's mandate ("cassação"). He alleged abuse of political and economic power. He cited possible misuse of state resources and the spread of false information. Unnamed campaign sources told CNN Brasil that about 20 such petitions had been filed. 567politics has not counted the filings itself.
His Liberal Party (PL) also shifted. "We recognize the presidential election results. But we believe the issues raised need to be properly clarified," party leader Valdemar Costa Neto said, according to CNN's English-language report, citing CNN Brasil.
The passport order and the departure
On Monday, STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports within 24 hours in connection with criminal investigations, CNN reported. CNN Brasil reported that the Federal Police canceled his ordinary and diplomatic passports at noon on Tuesday after the 11 a.m. deadline passed. The investigations concern suspected money laundering; Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing. In a Monday video he said he had never thought about leaving the country, the Guardian reported.
Argentina's migration agency later said Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters crossed into Argentina late on Tuesday. They then boarded a private flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. The agency said they traveled "with valid travel documentation and without any legal impediment to entering the country," according to the Guardian and CNN. Argentina's government had earlier told CNN Brasil it had no record of his entry. A US State Department spokesperson said Bolsonaro and his family would receive visas allowing them to enter the United States. As of CNN's latest update, it was unclear where he had landed. CNN reported that no arrest warrant had been issued for him at the time he left.
What each side argues
Lula and the Workers' Party (PT). Speaking in Brasília on Tuesday, Lula called the departure "shameful" and said, "He who owes nothing, fears nothing," according to the Guardian's translation. Three PT lawmakers, Lindbergh Farias, Rogério Correia and deputy-elect Ana Elisa Santos, asked Justice Moraes to order Bolsonaro's detention. If a warrant is issued, they want an Interpol Red Notice, CNN Brasil reported. Their petition cites non-compliance with the passport order and flight risk.
Bolsonaro and his allies. Bolsonaro argues that a court changed the rules while voting was under way, which treated regions unequally. He also says Lula's campaign abused public office. A source close to him told CNN he feared arrest. His campaign manager, Senator Rogério Marinho, said he was surprised by the departure because the campaign had discussed Bolsonaro leading the opposition with "the roughly 60 million votes he received," as CNN quoted him. President Donald Trump said he "would approve" Bolsonaro's entry and called the election "very strange," CNN reported.
Weighing the claims
On the voting extension, two facts in the public record cut against an annulment argument. G1 and O Globo report that Bolsonaro's own campaign asked the TSE to extend voting in 17 municipalities across five states hit by heavy rain. G1's analysis of TSE data found 35,521 votes recorded after 5 p.m. Brasília time, far fewer than the 4.4-million-vote margin. Those figures do not by themselves settle the separate abuse-of-power petitions, which turn on campaign conduct and will be judged on their own evidence.
Two statements from opposite camps also go beyond what the evidence shows. Lula's "he who owes nothing, fears nothing" infers guilt from the act of leaving. But a person may fear detention whether or not they committed a crime, so the inference does not follow. Criticism of defying a court order is a separate and legitimate point. Trump's description of the election as "very strange" was offered without supporting evidence, and CNN notes he earlier called Lula's win "rigged" without evidence. The TSE's president, Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, said the extension produced no change in the count, O Globo reported.
What remains unknown
Several points are unresolved. Bolsonaro's final destination is not confirmed. Metrópoles reported, citing people close to the family, that he plans to seek asylum; he has not confirmed that. It is not known whether Moraes will issue a warrant, or how the electoral courts will rule on the abuse-of-power petitions. Background on both men is on our profiles of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, and on the Brazil election guide.
This AI-assisted report was prepared on October 28, 2026, from the sources linked above. Quotations from Portuguese are translations by the outlets cited or by 567politics where marked.
Photo and reporting note
File image for institutional context, not a photograph of the events reported here. Photo: Senado Federal, original file, CC BY 2.0. Cropped for publication.
