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Flávio Bolsonaro Flees to US After Presidential Loss
Confirmed
In Short: Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro has left Brazil for the United States following his loss to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro has left Brazil for the United States, two days after losing the country's presidential runoff to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
According to Brazilian outlet Metropoles, Bolsonaro's flight is reportedly headed to Florida, citing people close to his family.
With 100% of the vote counted, Lula won 51.8% of the vote, defeating Bolsonaro by nearly 4.4 million votes.
Bolsonaro was under investigation for alleged money laundering and other crimes, and was told to surrender his passport over a criminal case involving a money-laundering scheme worth about £680m ($905m) involving betting companies.
The plane is in flight, but it is not clear where it departed from or when Bolsonaro will arrive in the United States.
Bolsonaro's departure comes amid allegations that Lula's win was illegitimate due to the interference of a Supreme Court justice who previously served as Lula's attorney.
At 11:50 p.m. local time, after 47% of the ballots had been counted, Bolsonaro had obtained approximately 50.20% of the votes, while Lula had 41.63%, according to data cited by Le Figaro.
Organizers said some 150,000 supporters filled the two-kilometer stretch of Augusta Street between Paulista Avenue and Roosevelt Square, a traditional stage for political demonstrations in Brazil’s largest city.
Home to more than 100 million faithful, Brazil has been called the world’s most Catholic nation.
The result represents an unprecedented comeback since Brazil's return to democracy in the 1980s, as no candidate who has ever lost the first round of a presidential vote has won the second.
The parties aligned with the Centrão – Brazil’s bloc of transactional center-right parties – were somewhat diminished but will still hold roughly 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 in the Senate.
Bolsonaro's legal challenge against Lula's runoff victory will fuel right-wing protests, but it is highly unlikely to overturn the election result, leaving Lula to navigate a right-leaning Congress, fiscal pressures, tense relations with the United States, and a succession debate in his fourth and final term as the country's leader.
What this adds
It remains unclear how Bolsonaro was able to leave the country while he was facing a 24-hour Supreme Court deadline to hand over his passports.
What's confirmed
- Bolsonaro said he received it outside the home where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup following his 2022 election loss to Lula.
What's still developing
- It remains unclear how Bolsonaro was able to leave the country while he was facing a 24-hour Supreme Court deadline to hand over his passports.
- Contrary to every poll, the president finished the first round 2.2 million votes behind Flávio Bolsonaro – and, more significantly, 3.4 million votes below his total four years ago, when the machinery of the state was working against him and in favor of his opponent.
- Our Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, heads to Roraima to hear what’s at stake for the rainforest and the communities that live there in the Brazilian presidential runoff on Sunday.
- Send your comments and questions to tif.questions@theguardian.com For the Amazon and the communities who live there, the stakes in Sunday’s Brazilian presidential election runoff could scarcely be higher.
- The text speaks, for example, of life as a “gift from God,” citing John 10:10.
- Flavio was photographed holding a placard bearing the image of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest after being convicted of attempting to overturn the 2022 election result, which he lost to Lula.
- Conservative Senator Flavio Bolsonaro was leading the presidential race in Brazil after the partial counting of votes in the first round of the elections held on Sunday.
- Issued on: 25/10/2026 - 07:05 Modified: 25/10/2026 - 15:29 Brazil is on the cusp of granting leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva a fourth presidential term or pivoting to the far right again by electing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Donald Trump.
- Read more Brazil's tense presidential run-off campaign feels like a psychological thriller Former US president Barack Obama once called Lula “the world’s most popular politician”, but his approval ratings have fallen as low as 24 percent this term as voters raise concerns about crime and the cost of living.
- Will the left-wing incumbent be able to prevent Brazil from joining Latin America’s shift to the right?
- The 80-year-old has been a central figure in Brazilian politics for decades, serving two four-year presidential terms between 2003 and 2011, and is currently serving his third term, which began in 2023.
- FILE - A street vendor sells campaign flags of presidential candidates Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro and current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 29, 2026.