Bolsonaro Drops Bid to Annul Brazil's Vote
Flávio Bolsonaro, who lost Brazil's presidential runoff, said the night of the vote he would ask to annul it. A day later his campaign said it would not, and he said he will ask to remove President Lula's ticket for abuse of power. No annulment petition has been reported filed.
Flávio Bolsonaro, the senator who lost Brazil's presidential runoff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has backed away from his announced plan to ask the courts to annul the election. On the night of the vote he said it was "impossible to recognize the results" and that he would ask for annulment. A day later, members of his campaign told CNN Brasil there would be no annulment request, and his press office told Poder360 there was no forecast that the request would continue. In a video, Bolsonaro said he will instead ask the electoral court to remove Lula's ticket for abuse of political and economic power. None of the Brazilian outlets reported that an annulment petition had been filed.
Brazil's electoral court counted Lula at 51.79% and Bolsonaro at 48.21%, a margin of about 4.4 million votes. Bolsonaro had objected to a Supreme Court justice's order extending voting by two hours. His Liberal Party said Monday it recognizes the result. President Donald Trump told reporters the election "looked like another rigged election."
Brasília, Brazil — Flávio Bolsonaro, the losing candidate in Brazil's presidential runoff, is no longer pursuing the annulment of the election he announced the night of the vote, according to CNN Brasil, R7 and Poder360.
What he said, and what changed
After the electoral court confirmed Lula's victory on Sunday night, Bolsonaro refused to concede. "It's impossible to recognize the results of the election in the context of these things that happened," he said, according to the Associated Press and G1. "We are going to use our legal team, we are going to ask for the annulment of these elections," he said, according to G1. He cited the decision by Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin to keep polls open two more hours.
On Monday, campaign members told CNN Brasil, on condition of anonymity, that there would be no request to annul the vote, and Bolsonaro's press office told Poder360 there was no forecast that the annulment request would continue "at the moment." R7 reported that allies and lawyers had pointed to legal difficulties. In a video published Monday, Bolsonaro accused Lula of "an unprecedented abuse of political and economic power," including what he called "the biggest purchase of votes in the history of elections in Brazil," and of mass disinformation. "I will ask, yes, for the removal of Lula's ticket for all the abuses he committed," he said. UOL reported that, as of Monday, he had not recognized the result. R7 and A Gazeta reported that his campaign is expected to file an electoral investigation action over alleged abuse of economic power; neither reported a filing.
The party's position
Bolsonaro's Liberal Party issued a statement Monday signed by its president, Valdemar Costa Neto, saying it recognizes the result proclaimed by the Superior Electoral Court. "We recognize the presidential election results," Costa Neto said, according to Reuters. "But we believe the issues raised need to be properly clarified." Reuters, G1 and GauchaZH reported the statement. Reuters reported that Bolsonaro had not commented publicly since it was issued.
The count and the extension
With all votes counted, Lula received about 64.2 million votes and Bolsonaro about 59.8 million, according to G1 and USA Today. Zanin ruled shortly before the scheduled 5 p.m. close to keep polls open until 7 p.m. after a request from Lula's campaign over public-transport problems. Bolsonaro's campaign had separately asked the electoral court for more time in some states because of heavy rain, according to G1 and the Associated Press. A second decision that evening clarified that the extension applied only to polling places still open, CNN Brasil and G1 reported. The court's president, Kassio Nunes Marques, said the extension did not affect the results, the Associated Press reported.
G1 counted 35,521 votes registered after 5 p.m., and a Folha de S.Paulo count cited by UOL found 34,300. Reuters, citing an analysis of electoral records by Insper professor Pedro Burgos, reported that fewer than 35,000 votes, about 0.03% of the total, were cast in the extra two hours.
Trump's remarks
Speaking to reporters Monday before flying to a rally in Mississippi, President Trump said: "I didn't take sides, but it looked like another rigged election," and "I just think it had a very bad look, the election, the way it was tabulated. The extension given was very strange." He also said, "I like Lula. I get along with him very well," according to USA Today and Reuters. Trump did not endorse a candidate before the vote, both outlets reported.