Brasilia, 'Trump will accept the election result, respect Lula'

United States President Donald Trump will respect the result of the Brazilian elections on Sunday 25 October even if Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wins. The special advisor to the Brazilian president for foreign policy, Celso Amorim, is convinced of this, according to which Washington may not publicly express appreciation for the outcome, but would recognize its effects.

“He may prefer one candidate to another, but he respects President Lula,” he said in an interview with Folha de S. Paulo. The diplomat also criticized the impact of digital platforms on the election campaign. Meta's internal discussions on the distribution of political content, which emerged in the press, caused "irreparable damage", leaving a mark regardless of the outcome of the vote. Amorim also warned against Brazil's possible membership of the Shield of the Americas, the coalition for security and the fight against drug trafficking promoted by Trump in March and supported by right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro. "We don't want this type of risk for ourselves," he said, recalling the operations conducted in the Caribbean and the victims whose responsibility, in his opinion, had not been clarified. Finally, Amorim defined as "terrible" the hypothesis of a reorganization of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry announced by Eduardo Bolsonaro, brother of Flavio, who promised a "cleansing" of the diplomatic corps in the event of an opposition victory. Amorim, however, ruled out this scenario, declaring himself convinced that Flavio Bolsonaro will not win the elections.