After Lula victory, Brazil asks: Where’s Bolsonaro?

Far-right chief has not commented on defeat to his rival, Brazilian president-elect Lula da Silva, fuelling issues.

Hours after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was declared Brazil’s subsequent president, incumbent Jair Bolsonaro has but to handle his electoral defeat, elevating issues the far-right chief might be planning to contest the outcomes.

Da Silva, higher often called Lula, narrowly bested Bolsonaro in Sunday’s second spherical run-off, garnering 50.9 % help in comparison with 49.1 % for the previous military captain.

Whereas Lula struck a conciliatory tone – pledging to “govern for 215 million Brazilians, and never simply for many who voted for me” – and world leaders congratulated him on his victory, Bolsonaro has but to remark publicly or on social media.

Bolsonaro has spent months falsely claiming that Brazil’s electoral system was susceptible to fraud, spurring fears that he deliberate to contest the outcomes ought to he lose to Lula, as most Brazilian polls had predicted.

Reporting from the capital Brasilia, Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo stated on Monday that there was “completely silence” on the presidential palace, the place she stated Bolsonaro had arrived very early within the morning.

“No person is aware of whether or not he’s going to talk,” Bo reported. “He has not conceded defeat. He has not referred to as elected President Lula da Silva.”

Up to now, Bolsonaro additionally has expressed admiration for Brazil’s former navy regime, which dominated from 1964 to 1985, including to fears across the election marketing campaign.

Nonetheless, Bo stated the heads of each chambers of Brazil’s Congress have accepted Lula’s victory, tempering issues over Bolsonaro’s response.

“The director of the electoral tribunal stated that he spoke to the president and [said] that he’s anticipated to simply accept the outcomes,” she stated. “However no person is aware of when that’s going to occur. We do hear, nevertheless, that a few of his ministers are advising him to acknowledge this end result.”

In the meantime, truckers and different protesters blocked highways in a number of Brazilian states on Monday in an obvious protest in opposition to the defeat of Bolsonaro, who was backed by main enterprise pursuits.

​Burning tyres, vans and vehicles blocked a number of factors within the west-central farm state of Mato Grosso, which largely helps Bolsonaro, an organization that manages a freeway within the state stated.

Highway blockages have been additionally seen in a minimum of 5 different states, together with Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, in accordance with native media.​

Lula criticised Bolsonaro on Sunday night time for not acknowledging the end result.

“Anyplace else on the earth, the defeated president would have referred to as me to recognise his defeat,” the president-elect stated in his victory speech to a euphoric sea of red-clad supporters in Sao Paulo.

Lula additionally vowed to work for “peace and unity” within the divided nation. “I’ll govern for 215 million Brazilians, and never simply for many who voted for me,” he stated. “There are usually not two Brazils. We’re one nation, one folks, one nice nation.”

A senior staffer at Bolsonaro’s marketing campaign headquarters stated the president went unaccompanied from his official residence to the presidential palace on Monday morning, however he was declining conferences and calls even from his closest aides and political associates.

His three sons, who’re very energetic on social media, even have maintained whole radio silence and posted nothing since Sunday’s defeat was declared by Brazil’s electoral authority.