Wire reporting: (AFP, via Buenos Aires Times)

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva marked his 81st birthday on Tuesday outside the Alvorada Palace in Brasília, two days after winning a presidential runoff, Euronews reported¹.

The Buenos Aires Times, carrying AFP, said Lula took 51.7 percent to 48.2 percent for Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, and that Bolsonaro said he would seek to have the vote annulled².

At the gathering Lula questioned why his rival had reportedly left Brazil so soon after Sunday’s defeat and accused the Bolsonaro family of excessive loyalty to the United States, according to Euronews¹. He said he did not know Bolsonaro’s exact location¹.

Euronews said a senior U.S. State Department official stated Washington would grant visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family, without confirming they had already left¹. It said Bolsonaro has rejected the result, made fraud allegations the outlet called unsubstantiated, and is under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion¹.

A Supreme Court order required him to surrender passports by midday Tuesday; whether he complied was unknown in that report¹. Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest in a case over an attempted coup after his 2022 defeat, Euronews said¹.

AFP, via the Buenos Aires Times, listed congratulations from leaders including Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, Canada’s Mark Carney and a Kremlin spokesman, plus Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Argentina². That dispatch did not cover Tuesday’s birthday event².

Sources

1. EuronewsBrazil: Lula celebrates 81st birthday after re-election victory4:30 AM
2. (AFP, via Buenos Aires Times)'Historic victory': World leaders celebrate Lula's re-electionOct 26, 7:47 AM

Read the original at Euronews ↗