(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Brazil's left-wing current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came back from behind in the first round to win the presidential election. However, US President Trump claimed on Monday (October 26), "I didn't choose a side, but this looks like another rigged election."
Trump offered no evidence but added: "I just think the perception of this election was very bad, especially the way the votes were counted and the extended voting hours."
Due to traffic problems in some cities, which made it difficult for some voters to get to the polling stations, the national voting time on the 25th was extended by two hours.
Flavio, the defeated right-wing candidate and son of the former president. Flavio Bolsonaro believed that extending the time would be beneficial to Lula, so he refused to admit defeat and said he would seek to annul the election results. Bolsonaro has also asked some areas to extend voting hours due to heavy rain in the past, but he still described the decision to extend voting hours this time as "unacceptable" and a "dirty trick."
However, Bolsonaro's party, the Liberal Party, issued a statement later on the 26th recognizing Lula's victory. This is contrary to Bolsonaro’s own position.
Valdemar Costa Neto, chairman of the party, said in a statement: "We recognize the results of the presidential election, but we believe that the relevant doubts raised by the outside world still need to be properly clarified." After the Liberal Party issued a statement, Bolsonaro has not yet made a public comment.
Brazil's current Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said in an interview with the TV station Rede Vanguarda that Trump's statement was "completely wrong" and "baseless."
Before this election, Trump did not express support for Bolsonaro. However, Reuters previously reported that Trump administration State Department officials had led an operation to try to return the Bolsonaro family to power. Trump is considered by the outside world to be closely related to the Bolsonaro family of the right-wing populist camp; in the past, when the elder Bolsonaro was in power, his behavior was also called the "Brazilian Trump".
Will extending the voting time affect the election results?
Bolsonaro's refusal to accept the election results is reminiscent of his father's refusal to admit defeat after losing to Lula in the 2022 election. Within a week of Lula taking office, hundreds of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro broke into the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court, demanding that the military intervene to overthrow Lula. Trump, who tried to deny his defeat in 2020, has expressed support for the elder Bolsonaro. Last year, he called the Brazilian court's trial of the elder Bolsonaro a "witch hunt" and used this as a reason to impose taxes on Brazil.
The elder Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup for trying to prevent Lula from taking office. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison and is currently under home detention.
Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Bolsonaro, affirmed that this year's election was a "smooth success" and said that even if the decision to extend the voting time caused some difficulties, it "did not change the results of the election."
Pedro Burgos, a professor at Brazil's Insper Education and Research Institute, analyzed the election and pointed out that with a vote gap of more than 4 million between the two sides, the election results are difficult to overturn: within the two hours of extended voting, less than 35,000 votes were cast, accounting for approximately 0.03% of the total votes.
Bolsonaro says he will not be allowed to leave the country
On the afternoon of the 26th, Bolsonaro announced that the police had ordered him to hand over his passport, adding: "I am now prohibited from leaving the country."
Bolsonaro said the decision came from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and was based on the decision of Bolsonaro's brother Eduardo, who is in the United States. Eduardo Bolsonaro said in an interview with a US podcast two days before the election: "If my brother does not win the election, I support him leaving the country." The Brazilian Supreme Court and the police have not confirmed this statement.
Brazilian police are currently investigating Bolsonaro for alleged corruption related to the financing of a biopic about his father, "Dark Horse."
Bolsonaro said on the 26th: "I never planned to leave this country. I will hand over my passport and defend myself against this farce."
Although Bolsonaro still insisted on calling for the results of the presidential election to be annulled, he also announced in another statement that he would assume the role of "leader of the opposition." He criticized Lula's intensive announcement of social welfare policies during the campaign as an "unprecedented abuse of political and economic power."
