Donald Trump claims Brazil election was 'rigged' despite defeated party recognising Lula victory

Donald Trump has claimed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's win in Brazil's presidential vote "looked like another rigged election" despite the defeated party acknowledging the result.

While defeated right-winger Flavio Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat in Sunday's presidential election, his Liberal Party confirmed it acknowledged the runoff result in a statement signed by the party's head, Valdemar Costa Neto.

Mr Costa Neto said. "We recognise the presidential election results. But we believe the issues raised need to be properly clarified."

Mr Bolsonaro, who previously said he would seek the annulment of Lula's victory after the Supreme Court extended voting by two hours, has not commented publicly since his party's statement,

Now, President Trump has weighed in on the election, telling reporters: "I didn't take sides, but it looked like another rigged election. It looked very bad to me."

Mr Bolsonaro lost to Lula by more than four million votes, a clear result that will be difficult to overturn.

Fewer than 35,000 votes, or some 0.03 per cent of the total, were cast in the extra two hours of voting ordered by the Supreme Court, according to an analysis of electoral records by Insper professor Pedro Burgos.

President Trump said. "I just think it had a very bad look, the election, the way it was tabulated. The extension given was very strange."

Vice President Geraldo Alckmin later defended Brazil's electoral system, telling local media that President Trump's remarks were "totally wrong" and "unfounded."

Neither President Trump nor Jair Bolsonaro, Flavio's father, accepted their 2020 and 2022 election losses, respectively.

Brazil's former president was handed a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing to Lula.

Analysts in Brazil do not expect Flavio Bolsonaro to build the same anti-democratic movement as his father in 2022.

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Lula's victory defied polls, precedent, and global anti-incumbent sentiment, putting the brakes on a wave of right-wing election victories across Latin America.

He trailed Mr Bolsonaro in the first round, but managed to convince voters to come out for him in the runoff.

Pollsters said a higher-than-expected turnout and an improved social media campaign helped power Lula to victory.

During the campaign, Lula pointed to his track record of cutting poverty and inequality while also highlighting record-low unemployment, illiteracy and deforestation, but his fourth term may prove challenging.

He will face an uphill battle for his agenda in a Congress packed with Bolsonaro allies after a surge of conservative voters in the first round of the general election pushed the Brazilian legislature further to the right.

Combined, Bolsonaro's Liberal Party and allied parties could control over 280 seats in the lower house and up to 50 seats in the Senate, enough for comfortable opposition majorities in both chambers.

That may deepen recent trends of presidents ceding power to Congress on the budget, major legislation and key nominations.

Lula also faces an economy that his government forecasts will grow just 2.3 per cent next year, adding to fiscal concerns tied to high interest rates and public debt that has risen past 82 per cent of GDP, the highest since the pandemic.