Brazil’s outgoing leader Jair Bolsonaro has appeared to accept his defeat to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, although he did not explicitly concede, breaking his silence two days after the men faced off in a bitterly contested presidential election.
After spending Monday and much of Tuesday out of public view and off social media, the far-right populist president told a press conference that it was “an honour to be the leader of millions of Brazilians who defend economic freedom, religious freedom, freedom of expression and the green and yellow colours of our flag . . . As president of the republic and a citizen, I will continue to fulfil all the commandments of our constitution.”
He did not, however, personally concede, but left his chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, to confirm that they will begin the transition period to the Lula government.
In a further departure from tradition, the former army captain did not call to congratulate the leftwing Lula, who on Sunday narrowly won the election with 50.9 per cent of the vote and will take office on January 1.
The remarks from Bolsonaro draw a line under two days of high drama following the vote, which had left civil society and investors on tenterhooks about what the mercurial incumbent might do next.
His speech paves the way for a transition of power from the right to the left in Latin America’s largest country. In contrast with Bolsonaro’s silence since the election, Lula has already seized upon the role as president-elect, calling world leaders and meeting politicians across the spectrum.
Following the election results, radical supporters of the outgoing president blocked highways across the nation in protest at Lula’s victory.
While the capital Brasília remained calm, governors of five states, including the three most populous — São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais — ordered military police to reopen highways blocked by pro-Bolsonaro activists.
The protesters have said the election result was fraudulent, without offering any evidence. For months ahead of the poll, Bolsonaro worked to sow doubt about the integrity of the race, claiming Brazil’s electronic voting system was prone to fraud.
“The current popular movements are the result of indignation and a feeling of injustice in the electoral process,” Bolsonaro said on Tuesday, hinting at his prior allegations that the country’s top electoral body was biased against his campaign.
“Bolsonaro is well positioned to be the leader of the opposition, maybe even to try a comeback in four years. But for that to happen, he needs to move on,” said Eduardo Mello, a professor of politics at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.
Lula’s victory followed a campaign marred by mudslinging, fake news and violence.
A former president who served two terms between 2003 and 2010, he will govern a sharply divided nation. Millions of Brazilians remain angry about the corruption scandals that tarnished consecutive administrations of his Workers’ party (PT). Lula himself spent almost two years in prison for graft before his conviction was annulled.
Much of the focus is on who Lula will choose as his ministers. Investors are hoping he will signal his commitment to fiscal rectitude and economic orthodoxy by appointing a pro-free market finance minister, such as Henrique Meirelles, a former head of the country’s central bank.
Also in contention for the role are PT loyalists such as Fernando Haddad, who on Sunday lost the São Paulo gubernatorial election to the pro-Bolsonaro Tarcísio de Freitas, and Alexandre Padilha, a former health minister.
“In his victory speech, Lula said all the right things with his ‘we want to govern for everyone’ approach. But economically the main signal will be his choice of finance minister,” said Marcos Casarin, chief Latin America economist at Oxford Economics.
The president-elect is expected to expand the total number of ministries from 23 to 34, giving him more scope to reward his broad coalition partners with government jobs.