Brazilian Markets Plunge After Lula Wins Runoff Amid Voting Extension Controversy; Trump Calls Result “Rigged”

Brazilian financial markets fell sharply Monday after leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated Flavio Bolsonaro in Sunday’s presidential runoff. The benchmark Ibovespa index dropped about 10 percent shortly after the open, triggering a temporary trading halt, while the real weakened approximately 12 percent against the dollar and related equity futures declined nearly 15 percent, according to contemporaneous market reports.

Lula was reported to have received 51.8 percent of the vote to Bolsonaro’s 48.2 percent. Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, had led in the first round by more than two million votes and had been favored in many pre-election surveys. He has refused to concede and has called for the result to be annulled, citing the decision to extend voting hours by two hours on election day. Critics of the extension, including members of the electoral court, said no clear prior rule authorized the change; the decision was associated with a court official who had previously represented Lula.

President Trump, speaking to reporters before a Mississippi rally, said elections must be “indisputable” and that the Brazilian contest “looked very bad to me,” adding that it appeared rigged. He did not provide specific evidence in the remarks. Investors had positioned for a Bolsonaro victory after the first-round results; the reversal prompted concerns over fiscal policy and Brazil’s public debt, already above 80 percent of GDP. Brazilian banks and other equities also fell in U.S. trading.

The outcome bucks a broader regional trend toward more right-leaning governments in Latin America. Bolsonaro’s camp has pointed to the voting extension and the size of the reported swing from first-round results as grounds for challenge. Official results and any formal contests remain subject to Brazilian electoral procedures.