Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro’s party has recognized the results of Brazil’s presidential run-off despite a right-wing candidate’s promise to annul the results.
On Monday, the leader of the right-wing Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, issued a statement saying his political group had accepted the vote results.
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Still, he echoed Bolsonaro’s concerns about the situation surrounding the election.
“We recognize the results of the presidential election,” Costa Neto said. “However, we believe that the issues raised need to be properly clarified.”
On Sunday, Bolsonaro lost to left-wing incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by more than 4.4 million votes.
Bolsonaro has yet to formally concede. In his post-election speech, he called the election results “unacceptable,” citing the last-minute extension of voting hours.
“I intend to take legal action,” he told supporters. “I call for the annulment of these elections.”
The extension of voting on Sunday had been called for by both candidates’ camps, but for different reasons.
Bolsonaro’s campaign had cited bad weather that prevented some voters from arriving at polling stations. Heavy rain fell on Sunday in parts of southern Brazil, a right-wing stronghold.
Meanwhile, Lula’s campaign accused some cities of restricting public transport on election day and advocated extending voting hours.
Allies of left-wing leaders framed these military cuts as an attempt at electoral interference aimed at preventing Mr. Lula’s working-class base from voting.
According to media reports, Salvador City traffic official Pablo Sousa was arrested in connection with the matter on Sunday.
In response to the petition, Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin agreed to extend the vote by two hours.
Polling stations across the country were scheduled to close at 5pm Brasilia time (2000 GMT), but Zanin’s order allowed those that had not yet closed to open until 7pm (2200 GMT).
After his defeat, Bolsonaro criticized the judge’s decision, saying it disadvantaged voters.
He pointed to the relationship between Mr. Zanin and Mr. Lula as support. Lula appointed Zanin to the high court in 2023, and Zanin previously served as a personal lawyer for left-wing politicians.
“With a simple stroke of the pen, at the request of his former partner, (Zanin) changed the rules of the game mid-game,” Bolsonaro said in a speech Sunday night.
But experts expressed skepticism about Bolsonaro’s claims of wrongdoing.
According to an analysis by Professor Pedro Burgos of Brazilian educational institute Insper, the extension resulted in 35,000 additional votes nationwide, which was less than 0.03% of the total.
This amount was far short of Lula’s 4.4 million votes. Bolsonaro received 59.83 million votes, while the incumbent received more than 64.25 million votes.
Still, some of his right-wing allies rallied behind Bolsonaro. US President Donald Trump, who has clashed with Lula in the past, told reporters that the vote appeared to be “rigged.”
“The election should be uncontroversial, but it looked very bad to me,” Trump said Monday. “Frankly, it looked like another fraudulent election.”
Still, Mr. Trump stopped short of suggesting he would engage on Mr. Bolsonaro’s behalf, saying he would “not take sides” in the election.
Bolsonaro’s refusal to accept his loss has raised concerns about whether he will follow the democratic process or follow in the footsteps of his father, Jair Bolsonaro, who served as Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2023.
After losing the 2022 election to Lula, the former president refused to recognize the results.
Instead, he and his allies sought to overturn the results, including through legal challenges, and prosecutors accused him of plotting a coup to prevent a legal transfer of power.
Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence on coup-related charges.
Separately, he was barred from holding public office for eight years after a court found he abused his office to spread false information about the election.
Flavio Bolsonaro and his brothers are calling for their father’s release. Bolsonaro’s family has condemned Bolsonaro’s trial as a case of political persecution.
Still, it is unclear whether Flavio Bolsonaro will pursue legal challenges to Sunday’s election.
Brazilian news outlet Folha de São Paulo reported on Monday that legal advisers and political allies had persuaded Bolsonaro to abandon his bid to annul his defeat, citing the wide margin of Lula’s victory and its legitimacy by the Supreme Court and electoral authorities.
Bolsonaro announced on Monday that federal police had asked him to hand over his passport amid speculation that he might leave the country after his disappearance.
He said he would comply with orders and had no intention of leaving the country.
“I will organize an opposition party to withstand the chaos,” said the right-wing politician.
