Flávio Bolsonaro and Donald Trump are calling for the Brazilian election result to be annulled after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva claimed a stunning victory.
President Lula beat Bolsonaro by more than four million votes to secure his fourth term in office.
It represents a remarkable turnaround for Lula, who was expected to be defeated by his right-wing rival after he lost the first round of voting.
It’s the first time a president has overturned a first-round loss since the return of democracy in 1988.
Speaking after his victory was confirmed, Lula told his supporters: “You have saved Brazilian democracy.”
But Bolsonaro has reacted predictably badly to the result. Speaking at what he was expecting to be his victory speech, the Trump-backed right-wing populist labelled the result “impossible” and “inexplicable.”
Bolsonaro said the result was “impossible to recognise” because “the rules of the game were changed.”
This is a reference to the Supreme Court’s decision to extend voting by two hours – something both Lula and Bolsonaro’s campaign teams had called for.
No presidential election in Brazil has ever been annulled.
It’s like father, like son for the Bolsonaro’s. In 2022, Jair Bolsonaro refused to recognise his election loss to Lula, when he was beaten by more than two million votes.
Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a jail sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup after losing the last election.
It’s not just in Brazil where toys have been thrown out the pram at the result.
Bolsonaro was heavily backed by Donald Trump, and the US president has been quick to cast doubt on the result.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump called for an “international investigation” into the “communist Lula regime” and reached for an old classic by saying the election was “stolen” from Bolsonaro.
Again, we must emphasise that Bolsonaro’s team formally requested the voting extension that he is now complaining about.
As for Trump, he’s no doubt feeling a bit embarrassed after publicly predicting that Bolsonaro would win.
Aged like milk.
