Bolsonaro remains silent after election defeat to Lula as key allies accept result
Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has fallen silent after his chastening election defeat to his leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
A stream of world leaders have stepped forward to recognize Lula’s stunning political comeback, including the US president, Joe Biden, the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and China’s Communist party chief, Xi Jinping.
But Bolsonaro – a pro-dictatorship radical who has repeatedly hinted he might not accept defeat – has yet to concede.
His last message on Twitter – an excerpt from the biblical book of Ephesians – was posted at two minutes before midnight on the eve of an election he went on to lose by a margin of more than 2m votes.
With 100% of votes counted, Lula secured 50.9% to Bolsonaro’s 49.10%. Lula received 60.3m votes while the rightwing incumbent had 58.2m.
The defeat makes Bolsonaro the first serving president in Brazilian history to be voted out of office. Lula will take over on 1 January 2023.
While Bolsonaro remained mute, key allies did accept the result in a sign that the populist’s power was rapidly ebbing away after four tumultuous years in office.
Silas Malafaia, a prominent televangelist who was one of Bolsonaro’s most vocal cheerleaders, tweeted: “The sovereign will of the people has established itself.”
Malafaia tweeted a quote from the British writer CS Lewis as his candidate’s defeat sank in: “It is not your business to succeed, but to do right. When you have done so the rest lies with God.”
The newly elected pro-Bolsonaro governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, also recognized Lula’s win, telling journalists: “The election result is sovereign.”
Another key ally, the lower house leader, Arthur Lira, said: “The will of the majority, expressed at the polls, should never be challenged.”
Even Sergio Moro, the pro-Bolsonaro judge who controversially jailed Lula in the lead-up to the 2018 election before taking a job in Bolsonaro’s cabinet, recognized the leftist’s victory. “Thus is democracy,” Moro tweeted. Ricardo Salles, Bolsonaro’s former environment minister, tweeted: “The result of the most polarized election in Brazil’s history prompts many reflections and the need to seek ways to pacify a country that is literally split in half. Now is the time for serenity.”
But Bolsonaro and his three politician sons remained tight-lipped on Monday morning. The news website UOL said he was “holed up” in the presidential residence in Brasília.
By Monday lunchtime the only hint that Bolsonaro might be prepared to accept defeat was a tweet from one of his closest allies, the evangelical preacher Damares Alves, in which she wrote: “We lost an election but we haven’t lost our love for our country ... Bolsonaro will leave the presidency in January with his head held high”.
The first Bolsonaro to break the silence was the first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, who posted a quote from Psalm 117 on Instagram. “O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever,” it said.
Later that afternoon Bolsonaro’s senator son, Flávio Bolsonaro, tweeted: “Thank you to each one of you who helped us rescue patriotism … We will hold our heads high and we will not give up on our Brazil.”
Reginaldo Lopes, a Worker’s party congressman who ran Lula’s campaign in the key swing state of Minas Gerais, said Bolsonaro’s silence spoke volumes about his dislike of democracy. “It underlines how he has never had any affection for democracy. Any serious democratic candidate would immediately call the president-elect to congratulate them and recognize their defeat and their adversary’s victory.”
Some observers have voiced concern that Bolsonaro may follow in the footsteps of his US ally Donald Trump and refuse to accept defeat in an attempt to keep his political movement alive.
José Roberto de Toledo, a political columnist for the news website UOL, thought it mattered little whether Bolsonaro conceded defeat or not.
“The senate has accepted [the result]. The lower house has accepted it. The electoral court has accepted it. All of the institutions have accepted
it – and the military is quiet,” Toledo said, adding that he was rather enjoying a rare break from the president’s blathering. “Bolsonaro’s a poet when he shuts up,” Toledo said.
Rather than plotting a coup or insurrection, Toledo joked that Bolsonaro was probably kicking a wall in the presidential palace, swearing at the first lady or practising yoga breathing techniques to remain calm. “I think he genuinely believed he would win. He believed his own lie. So he’s probably brooding, coming to grips with defeat.”
The political commentator Bernardo Mello Franco tweeted: “One by one, Bolsonaristas recognize Lula’s victory. This leaves the president without the political support to attempt any kind of coup-style adventure.”
Lopes also dismissed the risk of Bolsonaro attempting to defy the result, pointing to the widespread acceptance of Lula’s triumph from across the political spectrum and within the political establishment. “Brazil and its institutions all immediately recognized President Lula’s victory. This was crucial,” he said.