Ramaphosa hails Lula for winning Brazil poll
Bolsonaro might contest results
President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his successful elections as the new president of the Republic of Brazil.
Da Silva, who served as president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010 and is known mononymously as Lula, won the general election held on October 2 this year.
Ramaphosa said SA looks forward to working with the government of Brazil under Da Silva’s leadership, saying the two developing countries share a number of common challenges and aspirations at the socioeconomic level.
Ramaphosa said SA and Brazil cooperate at various levels, including Brics and numerous country-to-country, inter-regional and global mechanisms.
Lula narrowly defeated forpublic mer president Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election, but the far right incumbent did not concede defeat on Sunday night, raising concerns that he might contest the result.
The Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) declared Lula the next president, with 50.9% of votes against 49.1% for Bolsonaro.
The 77-year-old Lula’s inauguration is scheduled for January 1. It was a stunning comeback for the leftist former president and a punishing blow to Bolsonaro.
“So far, Bolsonaro has not called me to recognise my victory, and I don’t know if he will call or if he will recognise my victory,” Lula told thousands of jubilant supporters celebrating his win on Sao Paulo’s Paulista Avenue.
Congratulations for Lula poured in from foreign leaders including US president Joe Biden, Russian president Vladimir Putin, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron.
A source in the Bolsonaro campaign told Reuters the former president would not make remarks until yesterday. The Bolsonaro campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Bolsonaro last year openly discussed refusing to accept the results of the vote, making baseless claims that Brazil’s electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud.
One close Bolsonaro ally, lawmaker Carla Zambelli, in an apparent nod to the results, wrote on Twitter, “I PROMISE you, I will be the greatest opposition that Lula has ever imagined.”
Financial markets might be in for a volatile week, with investors gauging speculation about Lula’s cabinet and the risk of Bolsonaro questioning results. However, international election observers said Sunday’s election was conducted efficiently. One observer told Reuters that military auditors did not find any flaws in integrity tests they did of the voting system.
Truck drivers believed to be Bolsonaro supporters on Sunday blocked a highway in four places in the state of Mato Grosso, a major grains producer, according to the highway operator. Reuters