On November 1, local time, Brazil's current president, known as "tropical Trump", finally broke 44 hours of silence and spoke out about the Brazilian election that ended on October 30.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BCC) and Reuters, Bolsonaro did not admit his defeat in his speech, he thanked the voters who voted for him, and said that his supporters' recent protests were "angry and unfair" about the election process. But Bolsonaro did not dispute the outcome as feared, saying he had authorized Ciro Nogueira, Brazil's presidential chief of staff, to negotiate the transition process with representatives of left-wing President-elect Lula.
Screenshot of Reuters report
In the second (final) round of the Brazilian presidential election, which ended on the evening of October 30, local time, left-wing former President Lula won by a narrow margin of 1.8%, and leaders of many countries congratulated him on his election. However, current President Bolsonaro has never said "throw in the towel", and his supporters blocked highways to protest the election results, raising concerns that he may dispute the election results.
On November 1, 44 hours after the election results, Bolsonaro finally broke his silence and appeared in public, but his speech lasted only two minutes and did not answer any questions from reporters.
In a brief address to the nation, Bolsonaro joked that "journalists will miss him," thanked those who voted for him and said he would abide by the provisions of the constitution and carry out the transition of power on January 1, 2023.
On November 1, local time, Bolsonaro delivered a national speech
In his speech, Bolsonaro did not dispute the election result, but he also did not admit that he had lost. He referred to the protests waged by his supporters over the past few days, calling them the result of "anger and injustice" over the electoral process, and said protesters should avoid destroying public property and impeding the freedoms of others, but did not ask the crowds to return home.
After saying there would be a transition of power, Bolsonaro ended his speech. Nogueira, the Brazilian president's chief of staff, who was authorized by Bolsonaro to negotiate the transition process with Lula, also made a speech afterwards. Brazil's Supreme Court has since issued a statement saying that Bolsonaro "de facto" recognized the election results by authorizing a transition of power process.
The BBC noted that Bolsonaro's speech mentioned his supporters, but made no mention of a narrow victory over his rival Lula. Moreover, Bolsonaro broke with political tradition and still did not call the winner, Lula.
On October 30, local time, Lula spoke after winning the Brazilian presidential election. The picture is from the surging image
It is worth mentioning that throughout the campaign, without showing evidence, Bolsonaro, known as "Tropical Trump", repeatedly claimed that the electronic voting system may have been manipulated, and even said that the system had been tampered with in the past, which is the same as Trump's statement. But US media said that since 1996, there has been no record of fraud on Brazilian electronic ballots.
At the end of June this year, Bolsonaro also indirectly called out the United States in an interview with Fox News in the United States. If the left wins the Brazilian election in October, he said, they will never step down and South America will become completely red, effectively isolating the United States.
After Brazil's election, Brazilian highway authorities said truck drivers, believed to be supporters of Bolsonaro, blocked a road in Mato Grosso, Brazil's main grain-producing state, on October 30. Reuters also quoted an online video saying a man said truck drivers planned to block Brazil's main roads and called for a military coup to prevent Lula from coming to power.
On November 1, local time, Brazilian President Bolsonaro lost the election, and his supporters blocked the road to protest. The picture is from the surging image
"Bolsonaro did not put out the fire. Addressing die-hard supporters, he did not criticize demonstrators on the highway. Political risk analyst Andre Cesar believes that "Bolsonaro is mobilizing his more extreme followers".
Another political analyst, Leonardo Barreto, said that while Bolsonaro did not directly repeat the pre-election "election fraud theory" after the election, he cited "injustice" in the election process, indicating that he had learned all the lessons learned from his ideological ally, former US President Trump.
"He will emulate Trump for the next four years to keep his conservative movement alive," Barreto said. Barreto also predicted that Brazil's presidential election in 2026 will be another showdown between Bolsonaro and Lula's PTP candidates.
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