New Delhi: The United States president, Donald Trump, on Monday questioned Brazil’s presidential election, saying it looked “rigged” after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, defeated right-wing senator Flávio Bolsonaro in Sunday’s runoff. The remarks came as Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party acknowledged the result, while the defeated candidate shifted from demanding annulment of the election to pursuing legal action against Lula’s electoral ticket.
“I didn’t take sides, but it looked like another rigged election,” Trump told reporters. “Elections have to be indisputable, and it looked very bad to me.” He offered no evidence of electoral fraud. Trump also questioned the decision to extend voting hours, describing it as “very strange”.
Brazilian vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin, rejected Trump’s allegations in an interview, describing the US president’s remarks as “totally wrong” and “unfounded”.
RNA Media earlier reported, Bolsonaro had led the first round on October 4 with 47.03 per cent of valid votes, against Lula’s 45.16 per cent. Lula reversed that deficit in the runoff, winning 51.79 per cent against Bolsonaro’s 48.21 per cent and securing a margin of approximately 4.4 million votes.
Bolsonaro initially called the result “unacceptable” and vowed to seek its annulment, referring to a two-hour extension of voting at polling that had not yet closed. Minister of the supreme federal court of Brazil, stations Cristiano Zanin, authorized the extension after requests from both campaigns. Bolsonaro’s camp cited heavy rain in parts of southern Brazil, while Lula’s allies raised concerns about public transport restrictions affecting voters.
The decision drew scrutiny because Zanin had previously served as Lula’s personal lawyer before being appointed to the Supreme Court in 2023. However, an analysis by Insper professor Pedro Burgos estimated that around 35,000 votes were cast during the additional hours, far below Lula’s winning margin, Reuters reported.
Liberal Party accepts result, Bolsonaro pursues legal action
On Monday, Liberal party president, Valdemar Costa Neto, issued a statement recognizing the declared result while calling for concerns about the election to be clarified. “We recognize the presidential election results,” Costa Neto said. “But we believe the issues raised need to be properly clarified.”
Bolsonaro subsequently moved away from his demand to annul the entire election. Brazilian media reported that advisers and political allies had urged him to reconsider, given Lula’s margin and the recognition of the result by electoral authorities.
Bolsonaro said he would pursue a separate legal case against Lula and Geraldo Alckmin’s joint candidacy, alleging the misuse of political and economic power during the campaign. Bolsonaro also said federal police had asked him to surrender his passports. He said he would comply with the order and denied plans to leave Brazil.
The election dispute follows the imprisonment of Bolsonaro’s father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence on coup-related charges stemming from efforts to prevent the transfer of power after his 2022 defeat to Lula.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s electoral authorities have declared Lula the winner, while the legal challenge announced by Flávio Bolsonaro will determine whether any further proceedings affect the result.