Lula's Win Halts Latin America's Right-Wing Wave, Bloomberg Says

Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the presidential runoff, a victory Bloomberg framed as halting the right-wing wave advancing across Latin America, contradicting predictions his political career was over. The U.S. agency emphasized regional stakes over domestic ones, noting the result came after a chaotic vote with last-minute polling extensions and mutual suspicions. With 99.7% counted, Lula won 51.75% against Flávio Bolsonaro's 48.25%, becoming the first candidate since the 1980s to win after finishing second in the first round. The outcome directly impacts Argentina, where President Javier Milei backed Bolsonaro and called Lula a "thieving leftist." Brasília had considered Buenos Aires might not recognize a Lula victory, now a key question for bilateral relations.