Flávio Bolsonaro says he will request 'annulment' of Brazil election after loss

Brazil's defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro refused to recognise President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory on Sunday, citing the extension of polling hours over public transport issues that disrupted some voters. 

"It is impossible to acknowledge the result," he said from Brasília, adding that "I am going to request the annulment of these elections."

“We will pursue legal action and seek to have the election annulled," he added.

Bolsonaro accused Lula of “abuse of power and improper electoral campaigning” during polling day, confirming he would lodge a formal appeal on Monday with Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to challenge the validity of the election.

Sunday's vote was marked by confusion after a Supreme Court ruling extended voting by two hours as some polling stations had already closed.

The move came at the request of Lula who complained that buses had been pulled from circulation in various cities, barring citizens from voting. Bolsonaro also requested an extension in some regions due to heavy rains, but he described the decision as "unacceptable" and a "dirty trick."

The defeated right-winger alleged that “what happened is not normal” and described the events of the day as “an inexplicable outrage” and an “atrocity.”

The right-winger accused Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin of having meddled in the process by ordering polling places to remain open for two extra hours.

Zanin is a Lula appointee who previously worked as Lula’s personal attorney, and Bolsonaro said he “will not accept having the rules of the game changed once again by Lula’s allies on the Supreme Court.”

Brazil’s electoral court has lalready declared Lula the winner, but Bolsonaro’s request will sow further mayhem in an already-tense election between ideological opposites.

It echoed Brazil’s last election, when Bolsonaro’s father also refused to accept his narrow loss to Lula. Jair Bolsonaro was later convicted of plotting a coup after his supporters stormed government buildings in a bid to overturn the result.

Poll extension

Brazil’s election, a typically routine affair known for the speed and reliability of its electronic voting system, descended into chaos on Sunday afternoon, when Lula’s campaign requested additional voting time. 

It argued that bus shortages in states like Bahía, a key northeastern stronghold for the leftist, and São Paulo, the nation’s most populous electoral college, had kept voters from getting to polling places.

After the result was declared, the head of Brazil’s electoral court, Kassio Nunes Marques, said he had called both candidates and congratulated them. He confirmed Lula’s re-election for a term beginning Janurary 5, 2027.

Nunes Marques, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Jair Bolsonaro, said the last-minute request to extend voting had affected the vote-counting process, but not the final result. He said the electoral court had managed to overcome the difficulties and that there had been no external interference.

Nunes Marques, who’d appeared to sit on the request for additional voting time earlier in the day, denied that he had delayed a review of the petition, saying it needed proper consideration.

The transportation shortfalls that prompted Lula’s request for additional voting time will be monitored and investigated, he said.

'Guarantee democracy'

Prior to Sunday, no candidate who lost the first round has gone on to win the second in Brazil since 1989, the first direct election after the end of the country's military dictatorship.

In his speech to the press and supporters in São Paulo, Lula said that Brazilians voted to "guarantee democracy."

"People went to vote because we managed to convince them that voting was very important for ensuring democracy in the country," Lula said in his first public comments after the win.

The re-elected president also promised better regulation of big tech platforms, after Meta was the subject of legal complaints over alleged "interference" throughout the polarising campaign.

“This was an election in which we had to overcome the interference that came from outside via digital platforms, and we are going to have to regulate them,” Lula said.

The president argued that large technology companies cannot operate without safeguards and defended the need to establish accountability for illegal content and activities carried out online.

“We cannot fail to recognise that crime in the digital world must be treated in the same way as crime in real life,” said the president, in one of the key points of his speech.

– TIMES/AFP/BLOOMBERG