Morning Brief, Monday 26 October

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil's runoff with 51.79% of valid votes, or 64.2m ballots, against 48.21% and 59.8m for Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party. Lula became the first candidate since Brazil's return to democracy to overturn a first-round deficit, after Bolsonaro led 47.03% to 45.16% on 4 October. His new term starts on 5 January 2027, two months after his 81st birthday.

• Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva51.79
• Flávio Bolsonaro48.21

Flávio Bolsonaro said he would not recognise the result and would ask for the election to be annulled. He blamed Supreme Federal Court justice Cristiano Zanin, who ordered voting extended nationwide by two hours at 17:01 local time after transport problems left some voters without rides. Lula's campaign mainly requested the extension, although Bolsonaro's campaign had sought a narrower extension in five states, and the Electoral Public Prosecutor's Office opposed the measure.

Latin American leaders quickly moved to recognise Lula's victory, giving him diplomatic cover while Brazil waits for Bolsonaro's legal challenge. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum sent the shortest message.

“The people of Brazil won.”

Lula thanked voters, singled out young people, women and older Brazilians, and named digital-platform regulation, technology education, healthcare protection and a bigger federal role in public security as priorities for the next term.

Serbia's student list won the early parliamentary election held on 25 October, according to preliminary projections that give it 52% of the vote and 138 seats in the 250-seat National Parliament. Aleksandar Vučić's United Serbia list is projected at 39% and 104 seats, leaving the students above the 126-seat threshold needed to govern if the figures hold. No other coalition cleared the 3% threshold, apart from ethnic-minority parties, which are exempt.

Aleksandar Vučić appeared live on RTS and conceded defeat, heading off fears that he would claim victory. He said the students' campaign had been unfair and deceitful and blamed a foreign-backed revolution, but he acknowledged what he called the students' victory. Radomir Sajčić, speaking for the student list, cast the result as the end of a long street campaign.

“Serbia has finally taken its destiny into its own hands, with a result that rewards nearly two years of struggle.”

Ilija Srdjanović, the cardiologist leading the slate, said the country had turned its back on a tyrant.

Turnout neared 70%, a level described as the highest in at least 30 years, after protests that began with the 2024 canopy collapse at Novi Sad railway station. Election officials reported mostly normal voting, but Kreni-Promeni said its observers recorded more than 300 irregularities by 13:00, including ballot photographs, pressure on voters and suspected vote buying. The count remains preliminary, so Serbia has a likely majority before it has a final official tally.

Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian and Russian representatives will meet in November under American mediation, after Moscow said on 23 October that the gathering would take place in Abu Dhabi. The talks are meant to restart negotiations that have been stalled since the start of 2026, after direct discussions in 2025 failed to produce a settlement. The new round follows renewed American efforts after talks stopped during the Israeli-American war in Iran (11c74254-5cfa-4347-b012-88a8-aee92043db1a).

Zelensky drew clear lines before the meeting. He said the territorial question belongs at leaders' level, while technical groups can handle other issues.

“We are ready for discussions. If it is the territorial issue, then it must be discussed at the level of leaders. Other issues - at the level of technical groups.”

He also said Ukraine's security guarantees, army size and choice of alliances are not negotiable, and he argued that army restrictions and neutrality cannot be on the agenda (11c74254-5cfa-4347-b012-88a8-aee92043db1a).

Kyiv is also seeking an energy ceasefire before winter, fearing another Russian strike campaign against the grid. Moscow rejects any pause before a substantive deal, arguing that a truce would let Ukraine rearm, and Vladimir Putin says future talks should cover security guarantees for both sides and Europe's wider security framework. A separate, limited pause is reportedly planned in Russian-occupied Oleshky, where military action is to stop temporarily so aid can enter and civilians can leave through a safe passage from 29 October (11c74254-5cfa-4347-b012-88a8-aee92043db1a).

French officials added detail to the second weekend of nationwide protests, putting Saturday's marches at 289 demonstrations and 410,000 participants, including 110,000 in Paris. The Interior Ministry's provisional tally gave 1,314 detentions by Sunday morning, about half the 2,628 recorded after the 17 October protests. The Paris prosecutor's office recorded 140 arrests during the capital's march, 105 of which became detentions, including 14 minors.

• 17 Oct2,628
• 24 Oct1,314

Violence broke out at the end of the Paris march, where police said one shop was looted and a car dealership was damaged. Clashes also reached Marseille, Toulouse, Nice and Tours, while reports described barricades set alight in Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseille. Authorities deployed about 70,000 police officers and gendarmes, roughly 20% more than the previous weekend, after admitting they had underestimated the number of people prepared for violence on 17 October.

Interior Minister Laurent Núñez said the authorised marches passed without incident, but he warned that radical groups had split off to commit violence. The ministry counted 75 fires, down from 2,025 the previous week, and 24 shops looted, down from 1,522 affected on 17 October. Unions dispute the participation figure, with the CGT putting turnout at 800,000, and unions other than the CFE-CGC plan another mobilisation over purchasing power on 5 November.

Audi will build its first American factory in Georgia if Volkswagen's supervisory board gives final approval, a project Donald Trump unveiled at a campaign rally in Perry less than ten days before the 3 November midterms. The German brand says the Macon-area plant will make premium SUVs for North America and create about 4,500 jobs. Donald Trump put the investment at $4.2bn, or $4.25bn in one report, and said the site would produce 200,000 cars a year.

Audi's own timetable is more cautious than the president's. Donald Trump told supporters construction would start in November 2026, but Audi's release schedules construction for 2027 and production in the early 2030s. Gernot Döllner, Audi's chief executive, stood on stage with Trump and said the company was making a long-term bet.

“This is a long-term investment, because we believe in the American market.”

Audi now imports every car it sells in the United States from Mexico or Europe.

The politics are already messy. Trump credited his tariffs, while Audi says duties on cars, steel, aluminium and components cost it about €1.2bn over the past year. Die Welt cited Audi guidelines saying the company holds no public events with parties or candidates in the three months before an election. Döllner defended the appearance by saying that when the American president invites you, you accept, but IG Metall called it hard to understand and German politicians accused him of lending campaign help to a president waging a trade fight with Germany.

Algeria's upper house approved a proposal to send military units into Niger, a rare foreign deployment that needed a two-thirds majority under the constitution. The closed-door session drew 148 of the Council of the Nation's 174 members, and the attending members voted unanimously. Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf presented the proposal on behalf of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, with representatives of the armed forces present.

The planned deployment focuses on Madama, in northern Niger near the Libyan border, where a former French base from Operation Barkhane sits close to energy assets. Algerian units would guard installations including the Kafra oil field, owned by the state company Sonatrach, under a bilateral agreement with Niger. A Niger security source said Algerian troops had not yet been officially deployed, while Niger's chief of cabinet has been touring the Agadez region and discussing military-base plans with local commanders.

The vote follows a quick thaw after Algiers criticised Niger's 2023 coup and relations worsened in 2025 over a drone incident near Mali. General Abdourahamane Tiani visited Algiers in February, and Niger's defence minister signed a military cooperation protocol there on 20 October. Tebboune had already sent fighter jets to Niger in August after unrest in Niamey, then told state television that Algeria would stand by its neighbour.

“We will protect Niger whatever the price.”

The lower house still needs to act on the proposal, and the reports give no formal start date for the deployment.