Bolsonaro's Party Accepts Brazil Vote, Candidate Withholds Concession

BRASILIA, Brazil: Brazil's Liberal Party said Monday it recognizes Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's win in Sunday's presidential election, while candidate Flávio Bolsonaro stopped short of conceding. Party president Valdemar Costa Neto issued a statement saying the party accepts the results but holds that "questions raised about the vote" still need clarification.

Lula took just over 51% of valid votes, about 64.2 million, against more than 48%, nearly 59.8 million, for Bolsonaro. He added more than 10 million votes over his first-round total. Analyst Thiago Vidal of Prospectiva consultants called it "a nationwide victory, a systemic victory."

The result came after the Supreme Court on Sunday ordered polling stations kept open two extra hours, until 7 p.m., on appeal from Lula's campaign, which cited transit disruptions. Bolsonaro's campaign separately asked for more time because of heavy rain in southern Brazil. Bolsonaro first said he would seek to annul the results over such irregularities.

In a video posted Monday, Bolsonaro changed course and said he would instead move to disqualify Lula's win over alleged abuses of political and economic power. "The law must apply to everyone," he said. "The competition must be fair and equal, which did not happen." He supplied no evidence for that claim.

Bolsonaro also said Brazil's Federal Police ordered him to surrender his passports and barred him from leaving the country after he visited his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, in Brasília. The elder Bolsonaro is under house arrest after a 27-year sentence for his role in the 2022 coup attempt against Lula. The passport order came from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in a separate investigation.

Lula's supporters gathered near downtown Rio de Janeiro on Sunday night, hugging, shouting and singing the national anthem. Gains in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, along with support from younger, older and working-class voters, offset his first-round deficit. Lula thanked young voters in his São Paulo victory speech, saying they "took to the streets to defend democracy in the country." Vidal said the Liberal Party's gains in Congress leave Lula facing a conservative opposition.

Janones, a congressman from Minas Gerais, ran Lula's online campaign through Instagram and WhatsApp. His WhatsApp channel, called "Lula's Army," drew more than 10 million followers.