Defeated Bolsonaro breaks silence

SãO PAULO. – Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has broken the silence he had maintained since being defeated in Sunday’s presidential election.

He thanked voters who had cast their ballots for him but did not acknowledge defeat. But he did not contest the result either.

His chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, spoke after Bolsonaro’s brief statement saying that the “process of transition” of power would begin.

Even though Bolsonaro did not himself acknowledge defeat in his own words, Brazil’s Supreme Court released a statement shortly after his speech saying that by authorising the transition of power, he had recognised the result of the election.

Combative statements from the president in the past - such as that “only God” could remove him from office - meant that there had been a tense wait for him to appear in public.

Before the election, he had also repeatedly cast unfounded doubts on the voting system.

When he finally appeared in public on Tuesday, Bolsonaro’s statement lasted only two minutes and he did not take any questions from the assembled reporters.

He did not mention Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his arch rival who narrowly beat him on Sunday, at all. In a break with tradition, Bolsonaro has still not called the man who defeated him in the election.

Hardcore supporters of Bolsonaro – who refuse to accept that he lost – have erected hundreds of roadblocks in all but two states of Brazil. But police have struggled to remove all of them, with more than 250 still in place– BBC.com