A two-hour extension of voting hours during the second round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday (25) drew sharp criticism from American businessman Donald Trump Jr., the son of United States President Donald Trump of the Republican Party. Using the social media platform X, the executive reposted a message that compares re-elected Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the Workers’ Party (PT), to former Venezuelan president and deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Attorney Martin De Luca, who represents the Trump Media & Technology Group and the video-sharing platform Rumble in legal proceedings against Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes, authored the original critique shared by the president’s son. While amplifying the lawyer’s argument to his followers, Trump Jr. wrote: “If a conservative government in Brazil did this, everyone in the mainstream press in America would lose their minds, but I guess they’re just choosing to be silent because it’s all for the cause”.
Attorney Martin De Luca questions Justice Cristiano Zanin and alleges electoral manipulation
Writing on X to an audience of nearly 126,000 followers, Martin De Luca described the prolonged opening of polling stations as a “blatant manipulation” of the vote and argued that the judicial order would prevent foreign governments from validating the outcome. Challenging the international legitimacy of the Workers’ Party victory, the legal representative for Trump Media and Rumble stated: “If this blatant manipulation of the elections is used to announce that Lula won, does Lula really expect anyone in the international community to recognize this as a free and fair election? He knows nobody will”.
De Luca also drew a direct parallel between the Brazilian head of state and the former Venezuelan regime when assessing the October 25, 2026 runoff vote. “Has hopelessness reached a point where today is the day the mask falls completely and Lula becomes the next Nicolás Maduro? For the sake of Brazil, I pray that is not the case,” the attorney wrote, without presenting documentary evidence to support his allegations of electoral fraud or manipulation.
Beyond the comparison to Venezuela, the American lawyer scrutinized the legal channel used by Lula’s reelection campaign, noting that Brazil’s 11-member Supreme Federal Court was petitioned directly before the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the specialized body that oversees federal elections, issued a ruling. De Luca pointed out that the magistrate who granted the order, Justice Cristiano Zanin, previously served as Lula’s personal defense attorney in lawsuits tied to the Operation Car Wash anti-corruption probe before joining the high court in 2023.
Questioning both the speed of the decision and the rationale regarding public transit failures, De Luca asked who held more control over transportation systems—Lula’s federal administration or a senator running for president. “Instead of waiting for a TSE ruling, @LulaOficial immediately asked Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) justice @Cristianozaninm to order the polls remain open WITHOUT any TSE ruling. Within minutes (did Zanin even read the filing?), the polls were ordered to remain open by Zanin,” the attorney wrote.
How Justice Cristiano Zanin handled the extension requests from both presidential campaigns
Issued as a provisional injunction at 4:57 p.m. on Sunday (25), Justice Cristiano Zanin’s order authorized voting in the presidential runoff to continue until 7:00 p.m., which also triggered a temporary suspension in the release of official vote tallying results. Superior Electoral Court President Kassio Nunes Marques subsequently ratified the directive and issued technical guidelines clarifying that only polling stations still open at 5:00 p.m. should continue operating for the additional two-hour period.
Inside the electoral court, the move sparked complaints among justices who viewed the Supreme Federal Court injunction as institutional interference in a matter that should have been decided directly by the TSE. In an official statement released after granting the injunction, Zanin explained that his ruling took into account formal requests submitted by both rival presidential campaigns during the afternoon of the vote.
- Lula’s reelection campaign filed the initial petition at 1:22 p.m. on Sunday (25), reporting public transportation bottlenecks that hindered voter access, particularly in the northeastern state of Bahia.
- Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL), the defeated runoff candidate, petitioned electoral authorities to extend voting hours across 19 municipalities located in the states of São Paulo, Paraná, and Santa Catarina.
- Bolsonaro’s legal team justified the request by citing severe rainstorms, flooding, road blockages, and electrical power outages affecting voters in those three southern and southeastern states.
Previous remarks by Donald Trump Jr. on the first round and the dismantling of USAID
Sunday’s social media post marked the second time Donald Trump Jr. publicly weighed in on the 2026 Brazilian presidential race. Shortly after the first-round vote, a stage of the contest in which Senator Flávio Bolsonaro finished at the top of the ballot count, the American businessman used his online accounts to comment on the electoral gains of right-wing candidates across Latin America.
Keep reading: Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula split 11 countries in Asia and Oceania during the 2026 runoff
During that earlier intervention, the son of the US president credited the conservative advantage in the region to the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a federal foreign assistance body that was largely shut down by the Trump administration. Also without offering documentary proof, the businessman claimed that the government agency had previously funneled billions of dollars into activist networks that, in his words, “conveniently always supported the same side.”
Fourth presidential term for Lula and the White House stance on the Brazilian runoff
Ballot counting on Sunday (25) confirmed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva‘s victory over Flávio Bolsonaro, securing a fourth presidential term for the Workers’ Party leader. Following the release of the official tally by electoral authorities, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro announced that he refuses to recognize his defeat at the polls and stated that his coalition will file a legal petition to annul the election.
In Washington, potential refusal by the United States government to recognize Lula’s reelection remains limited to political speculation among allies, with no official position announced by the White House. President Donald Trump stated on two occasions prior to the vote that he was watching the Brazilian contest “very closely,” yet he maintained a neutral public posture in the final weeks without endorsing either candidate and returned to the White House on Sunday night (25) without speaking to reporters or issuing a statement on the Brazilian result.
