Brazil's election ended on a Sunday. By Wednesday, the losing candidate had crossed a border by road, flown via Ecuador and landed in Florida.
The result
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the 25 October runoff with about 51.8% of valid votes to 48.2% for Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, according to official results. That is a margin of roughly 4.4 million votes: more than 64 million for Lula, just under 60 million for Bolsonaro.
It was a genuine comeback. Bolsonaro had topped the first round three weeks earlier, and no candidate who trailed in the first round had won a Brazilian runoff since 1989. Turnout did the work: abstention fell from about 21% in the first round to about 19%.
Lula turned 81 on 27 October. He takes office for his fourth term on 5 January 2027 and will be 85 when it ends.
The dispute
On election night Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, said it was "impossible to recognize the results" and that he would seek an annulment. His complaint: a Supreme Court justice extended voting by two hours minutes before polls closed, after Lula's campaign said buses had been pulled from service in some cities. Bolsonaro had asked for extensions too, citing heavy rain in the south.
Brazil's electoral court recognised Lula's win the same night. Bolsonaro's own Liberal Party has accepted the result. Brazil's electronic voting system has been used since the 1990s without significant fraud being found, as per the Associated Press.
The exit
On 26 October, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports within 24 hours and barred him from leaving Brazil, as part of investigations into alleged money laundering. Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing and has not been charged. In a video that day he said, "I never thought about leaving the country."
The deadline passed on 27 October. That night, Argentina's migration authority said Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters had entered through Misiones province with valid documents and boarded a private flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. They landed at Opa-locka airport near Miami on 28 October. The US State Department said it would issue the family visas.
From Miami, Bolsonaro posted a statement calling himself a victim of electoral fraud and political persecution. He first described himself as "president-elect", then edited it to "leader".
Lula, speaking at his birthday event, said Bolsonaro "could have stayed here and proven that the accusations are not true" and called the departure "shameful".
The India angle
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Lula on 26 October and said he looked forward to deepening the India-Brazil Strategic Partnership. The two countries work together in BRICS and the G20, and Brazil is one of India's key Global South partners.
Why it matters
Brazil is Latin America's largest democracy, and this election tested its institutions for the second time in four years: Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt after his 2022 loss. Lula now governs a deeply split country with a right-leaning Congress, while his defeated rival makes his case from abroad. Bolsonaro's Senate term runs until 31 January 2027.
This is a developing story. Details are as reported up to 29 October.
