On August 31, according to CNN Brazil, Brazilian President Lula will not attend the BRICS Summit scheduled for September 12–13 in New Delhi, India. Instead, the Brazilian delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Viéira.

The report stated, "The decision for Lula’s absence is related to domestic agenda and preparations for Brazil’s presidential election in early October. It is reported that this BRICS Summit will take place over a weekend, while Lula has recently been using weekends for campaign activities."

The report highlighted, "Brazil’s foreign policy community holds a cautious stance toward India serving as the rotating chair of BRICS, and anticipates that due to difficulties in reaching consensus on contentious issues, the final summit declaration will be relatively restrained."

President Lula’s absence from the 2026 BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India, is not attributable to a single factor but rather the result of intertwined domestic political realities in Brazil and deep-seated contradictions within the BRICS mechanism.

The most direct reason for Lula’s absence lies in Brazil’s domestic political agenda. In early October 2026, Brazil will hold its presidential election, and this BRICS Summit coincides with a weekend in mid-September. For Lula, who is seeking re-election, the current period represents a crucial sprint phase in his campaign. Prioritizing weekend campaigning and electoral preparations across the country clearly takes precedence over attending an international diplomatic summit. This prioritization of domestic politics over multilateral diplomacy is not uncommon among leaders during election years.

As noted in the report, Brazil’s foreign policy establishment views India’s tenure as rotating chair with caution. India’s actions during its term have raised concerns among member states, including Brazil:

Instrumentalization of the mechanism: India appears to be attempting to use the BRICS platform as a tool to enhance its own international standing and advance unilateral objectives—such as promoting the internationalization of the Indian rupee—rather than focusing on building multilateral consensus. This tendency to “unilaterally instrumentalize” a multilateral framework contradicts the original principles of BRICS—openness, inclusivity, and deepened cooperation.

Controversial expansion model: During its presidency, India has sought to bring neighboring countries into BRICS through a so-called “fast-track” admission process, aiming to expand its own influence. This biased expansion strategy conflicts with the “quality-over-quantity” principle upheld by China and Russia, leading to internal discontent.

An additional important context behind Lula’s absence is the increasingly evident divisions within BRICS itself. At the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in New Delhi in May 2026, significant disagreements emerged over core issues such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Middle East developments, and criteria for membership expansion. As a result, the meeting failed to issue a joint statement and concluded only with a chairperson’s statement. This precedent gives Brazil’s foreign policy community ample grounds to anticipate that the upcoming summit will also struggle to achieve consensus on contentious topics, resulting in a restrained final declaration lacking substantive breakthroughs. For Lula, skipping a summit expected to yield limited outcomes and instead focusing on domestic electoral dynamics represents a more pragmatic political calculation.

In summary, Lula’s absence from the New Delhi BRICS Summit may appear superficially driven by scheduling conflicts with the election calendar, but at a deeper level, it reflects Brazil’s strategic concerns about the direction of the BRICS mechanism under Indian leadership, as well as a clear-eyed assessment that the summit is unlikely to produce meaningful results. This decision also reveals the broader challenges currently facing the BRICS mechanism after expansion: growing diversity of interests among members makes achieving broad consensus increasingly difficult.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1875085139295498/

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