Lula Wins Brazil Runoff as Bolsonaro Abandons Annulment Bid
Washington, October 27: Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has once again emerged victorious in the presidential race. Following his win in Sunday's runoff, right-wing politician Jair Bolsonaro had sought to have the election result annulled. The uncertainty was largely eased after a remark by US President Donald Trump.
Just hours after Trump indicated that he would not intervene in Brazil's election, Bolsonaro dropped his push to cancel the runoff outcome. His Liberal Party has also accepted Lula's victory.
As he prepared to board Air Force One on Monday, Trump was asked by reporters whether he intended to do anything about alleged irregularities in Brazil's vote. “I am not running Brazil, I am running America,” he replied.
Trump nonetheless questioned the electoral process. He said he liked Lula and had good ties with him, but felt that the election method and the format of the vote count were not right. He described the extension of polling hours as unusual.
In a video posted online, Bolsonaro stopped short of formally conceding. He said that he would lead the opposition from Congress, where the right-wing bloc now holds a majority. “I will organize the opposition to fight chaos,” he said, and spoke of making the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate his strong strongholds.
He further said that his campaign would seek to have Lula's electoral alliance disqualified for misusing economic power. “I did not lose, but the system won,” Bolsonaro said.
On Sunday night, he had refused to accept the election outcome and demanded that it be cancelled. He had pointed to a Supreme Federal Court judge's decision that extended voting time. That request had originally been made by Lula's Workers' Party, which complained that voters lacked transportation to reach polling stations. Bolsonaro's Liberal Party later backed the same request.
Lula received about 64 million votes, compared with nearly 59 million for Bolsonaro. The results gave Lula roughly 51 percent of the vote and Bolsonaro about 48 percent.
Trump also defended his decision to express support for both candidates in Israel's election. When asked whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had requested a second endorsement, he said, “No, I never talked about that. I made statements supporting both of them.” Trump added that Netanyahu had performed well as prime minister despite difficult circumstances.
Ahead of the US midterm elections on November 3, Trump announced a one million dollar reward for information about voter fraud. The reward will be given to a person whose information leads to arrests and convictions in such cases.