Brazil’s brash President Bolsonaro mum after election loss

BRASILIA, Brazil — In Brazil’s capital on Monday, the silence was deafening.

Nearly a full day after President Jair Bolsonaro lost his bid for reelection, the usually brash right-wing leader had neither conceded defeat nor challenged the results of the country’s closest political contest in more than three decades.

Bolsonaro hadn’t spoken a word to reporters camped outside the official residence or the supporters who regularly gather nearby. Nor did he post on his otherwise prolific social media platforms.

The only sign of protest came from Bolsonaro-supporting truckers who on Sunday started blocking roads across the country. By Monday night, the Federal Highway Police reported 236 incidents in 18 states, up from 136 three hours prior to that.

Bolsonaro’s rival, former president and left-leaning ex-union leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the runoff Sunday night with 50.9% of the votes, to Bolsonaro’s 49.1%. It was the closest election since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985.

Ricardo Barros, Bolsonaro’s whip in the Lower House, told The Associated Press by phone that he was with the president Monday and that Bolsonaro was “still deciding” whether to speak about the election’s results.

Much like former U.S. President Donald Trump, whom Bolsonaro admires, the outgoing Brazilian leader has repeatedly questioned the reliability of the nation’s electronic voting system. At one point he said he possessed proof of fraud, though he provided no evidence. And as recently as last month, he remarked that if he didn’t win in the election’s first round, something was “abnormal” — even as most polls showed him trailing.

As time passes and an increasing number of international leaders publicly recognize da Silva’s victory, the president’s room for dispute is dwindling, experts told The Associated Press.

Some of Bolsonaro’s closest allies indicated the same.

“The will of the majority seen on ballots shall never be contested,” Lower House Speaker Arthur Lira told reporters Sunday.

Other Bolsonaro supporters who publicly acknowledged da Silva’s win include Sao Paulo governor-elect Tarcísio de Freitas and Senator-elect Damares Alves, both of whom served as ministers under Bolsonaro, and Lower House whip Barros. Evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia, who has been a strident Bolsonaro supporter, called for God to bestow his “blessing” on da Silva.

“He must have several plans for how to contest the results of the polls; the question is whether he has the political support to go ahead with these plans,” said Paulo Calmon, a political science professor at the University of Brasilia. “He won’t have the support of Sao Paulo’s governor, of the Lower House, Senate, and he will have to face opposition from everyone.”

Calmon added that Bolsonaro had recently said during an interview last month that he would accept the result even if he lost, but that congratulating da Silva would hurt his popularity among his most radical base.