Defeated Flávio Bolsonaro ordered to surrender passports

Brazil's Supreme Court has barred Flávio Bolsonaro from leaving the country and ordered him to surrender his passports, hours after the right-wing senator lost Sunday's presidential runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and refused to concede.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes — the same judge who oversaw the coup-attempt trial of the senator's father, former president Jair Bolsonaro — issued the ruling on Monday, according to The Guardian. The court's brief order refers to a federal police investigation into Bolsonaro's possible involvement in a money-laundering scheme linked to the financing of a biopic about his father, France 24 reported. He denies any wrongdoing. The New York Times said police were told to seize the passport over his links to the inquiry.

Bolsonaro, 45, said in an Instagram video that he had been "served with an order to hand over my passports" and was banned from leaving Brazil, calling it "a clear attempt to intimidate me." He said the decision rested on remarks by his brother Eduardo, a US-based former lawmaker, who said Flávio would have to leave Brazil if he lost — something the senator insists he never said himself.

The senator took 48.2 percent of the vote to Lula's 51.8 percent. He has reiterated he will seek to annul the result, arguing that an extension of voting hours on Sunday favoured Lula — a measure he had himself requested. "To withstand the chaos, I'm going to organise the opposition," he said, vowing to lead resistance to the government from inside Brazil.

His party struck a softer tone on Monday night, issuing a statement acknowledging the result while pressing for answers. "We recognise the presidential result proclaimed by the electoral court, but believe that the questions raised need to be properly clarified through a balanced and democratic political debate," it said. Bolsonaro himself, like his father four years ago, has still not conceded — a stance we tracked through the knife-edge runoff and its aftermath.

The next test is whether the electoral court entertains his annulment challenge — and whether the money-laundering investigation, now armed with a travel ban, moves towards formal charges.