Bogotá, Colombia – Governments across Latin America have recognized Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s win in yesterday’s presidential election in Brazil as his opponent, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, refuses to concede.
Though most right-wing leaders across the region – from Peru to Paraguay – have recognized Lula’s win, notable exceptions include the Donald Trump administration in the United States and Javier Milei in Argentina.
Leftist incumbent Lula defied pollsters’ predictions to defeat Bolsonaro by more than 4.4 million votes in the run-off race, sealing a historic fourth term as president and defying a rightward political swing across Latin America.
“It is impossible to recognize the election results, given the circumstances under which things unfolded,” Bolsonaro told journalists last night, saying he would request the annulment of the results.
He alleged that the election was invalidated by a Supreme Court ruling extending the voting window by two hours, a move requested by both his team and Lula’s.
The stakes were high for the Senator, the scion of a right-wing populist political dynasty founded by his father, ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who was jailed last year for attempting to overturn his loss to Lula in the 2022 elections.
Bolsonaro’s fraud claims echo his father’s own allegations that led to an insurrection on January 8, 2023, landing Jair a 27-year prison sentence.
But they have largely fallen on deaf ears outside Brazil, with many of Bolsonaro’s regional allies recognizing Sunday’s result.
Last night, the leaders of Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Paraguay – all right-wing or center-right – posted on X congratulating Lula on his win.
Though Colombian far-right President Abelardo de la Espriella did not go as far as congratulations, he reaffirmed the democratic process.
“THE PEOPLE DECIDE! And when the people speak at the polls, their will is respected because it is sacred. That is what democracy is all about,” de la Espriella wrote on X this morning.
William Booth, a historian of Latin America at University College London (UCL), said the right-wing response may signal a return to a long-running tradition of ‘live and let live’ in regional relations, something disrupted by President Donald Trump’s interventionist foreign policy.
“The last few years have seen all kinds of calls for invasion, arrest, sanctions and so forth,” Booth told Latin America Reports.
“It is possible that [right-wing leaders]… are waking up to the dangers of such a gamble on their own sovereignty, but more cynically I imagine the impending mid-terms and the likelihood of Trump having his own powers of intervention significantly clipped are the more salient factors,” continued the historian.
Despite the widespread recognition of Lula’s victory, two regional voices were notably absent: the United States and Argentina.
Both countries are led by close Bolsonaro allies and had faced allegations of interference in the run-up to the election.
The White House has had strained relations with Brazil since Trump returned to office in 2025, marked by Washington imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods and sanctioning key figures close to Lula.
Meanwhile, Argentine President Javier Milei has been an outspoken critic of Lula, calling him a “thief” and a “convict” at a Bolsonaro rally in July.
But both Milei and Trump, known for their outspoken demeanours, have been uncharacteristically quiet following Bolsonaro’s loss.
UCL’s Booth said their silence is unlikely to affect the legitimacy of the election result.
“It says a lot more about their pettiness than it does about Brazil’s immediate prospects,” said the academic.
But he added their behavior could damage relations with Brazil: “It is likely to be remembered as an insult not only by Lula… but perhaps also by some of those more toward the middle of the political spectrum in Brazil.”
Featured image description: Lula celebrates victory on Sunday.
Featured image credit: Ricardo Stuckert via @LulaOficial on X.
