Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday's presidential runoff to incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left the country for the United States, an ally told news agency Reuters on Tuesday, confirming an earlier media report.
His reported departure came after Brazil's Supreme Court ordered him to surrender his passports within 24 hours as part of a money-laundering investigation, in which he denies wrongdoing. Brazilian authorities cancelled his passports on Tuesday after he missed the deadline.
The reported move has drawn comparisons with his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who travelled to the US after refusing to concede defeat to Lula in 2022. Jair Bolsonaro later returned to Brazil and was sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup.
Flavio has yet to formally concede defeat, saying he would seek to annul the election result over alleged voter irregularities. His Liberal Party, however, acknowledged Lula's victory on Monday.
Lula secured more than 64 million votes, defeating Bolsonaro, who received just under 60 million, by nearly 4.4 million votes.
The incumbent is expected to take office on January 5, 2027, for a fourth non-consecutive term.
A key factor in Lula’s comeback was the mobilisation of voters who had abstained in the first round or backed other candidates. An additional 14.1 million voters participated in the runoff, with analysts estimating that three-quarters of these votes went to Lula.
Central to the campaign was lawmaker André Janones’ WhatsApp channel, “Lula’s Army”, which attracted nearly 11 million people and encouraged supporters to campaign on social media.
Bolsonaro has pledged to organise opposition to Lula and seek to nullify the results. He said, “I am going to gather elected lawmakers and senators to organize our strategy and make the lower house and the Senate our fortress against barbaric acts that are set to happen in another four years of Lula.”
However, overturning the result would require evidence of fraud affecting Lula’s 4.4 million-vote margin and approval from Brazil’s eight-member electoral court before certification on December 18.
Benjamin Gedan, director of the Stimson Center’s Latin America programme, warned, “False claims of fraud are becoming commonplace, though that does not make them any less dangerous.”