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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is seeking reelection in the October 2 elections, said Sunday that a victory of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the first round is “impossible.”
“Will he win in the first round? I see it difficult, not difficult, impossible, impossible, impossible and that’s the end of it,” he said in a live broadcast on social media.
The retired Army captain, who in recent months has sown suspicions about the legitimacy of the electronic voting system, insisted that the results “have to be respected by anyone,” as long as the elections are “clean and transparent.”
He also criticized a ruling of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) which prohibited him from broadcasting direct to campaign from official premises, such as the Alvorada Palace, the official residence of the Presidency; or the Planalto Palace, the seat of the Government.
“The Alvorada Palace is my residence, isn’t it?” he asked.
This Sunday, Bolsonaro, with an ironic tone, kept the mystery about where he was during the rebroadcast, in which he promoted candidacies of allies from various regions of the country.
“Could it be that the TSE knows where I’m doing this live broadcast? Ah, hidden, as if I were a guy from the darkness. ‘Will he be in the Alvorada, not complying with orders from the TSE?’ What a concern, TSE, now concern with electoral transparency, zero,” Bolsonaro pointed out.
On the other hand, Bolsonaro again used the presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Petro; of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, whom he called a “dictator”, and of Chile, Gabriel Boric, to attack the candidate of the Workers’ Party (PT).
“Lula is still a criminal, a thief (…) a friend of dictatorships, communists and thieves, of people who have no commitment to religion,” he criticized.
