Brazil: Flávio Bolsonaro will seek to annul the runoff after Lula's win with 51.79% of the vote

Brasília — Senator Flávio Bolsonaro announced on Sunday that he will ask the courts to annul the second round of Brazil's presidential election, after his defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to reports from the AFP news agency.

“It is impossible to recognize the election under these conditions. I am going to ask for the annulment of these elections,” Bolsonaro told reporters, rejecting the result of Sunday's vote.

With the count complete, Lula won 51.79% of valid votes, with 64,256,232 ballots, against Bolsonaro's 48.21%, with 59,826,041 votes, according to figures from the Superior Electoral Court cited by the press. The final margin was nearly 4.4 million votes.

The core of the challenge is the decision by Supreme Federal Court Justice Cristiano Zanin to extend polling hours by two hours, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., after a complaint from the Workers' Party campaign about sabotage of public transport in municipalities aligned with the government.

Bolsonaro called the extension illegal and noted that Zanin was Lula's personal lawyer in the proceedings that sent the president to prison. Lula's campaign, meanwhile, defended the measure as a guarantee so voters could reach the polls.

Lula, who will begin his fourth term on January 1, 2027, celebrated the victory with a message in which he said: “We defeated the interference that came from digital platforms,” according to Diario Libre.

On Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Lula on his “remarkable victory” and said he looks forward to working with him to deepen the strategic partnership between India and Brazil, joining congratulations from leaders of Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Cuba and Panama released on Sunday night.

Photo: Archivo A Lo Claro

Source: AFP