Bolsonaro refuses to concede Brazilian presidential election

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
(Image credit: SERGIO LIMA/AFP via Getty Images)

While it was projected Sunday that leftist politician Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would be the next president of Brazil, his opponent, incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, has still refused to concede the election.

Lula's victory, which was announced by the country's Superior Electoral Court, comes following a contentious and down-to-the-wire race between the two candidates.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

However, despite the Brazilian courts and nearly every major news outlet calling the race for Lula, Bolsonaro had still not conceded the election as of Monday afternoon. The New York Times noted that neither Bolsonaro nor his three politician sons — all of whom are prolific users of social media — had made any comments on the election since Lula's victory.

Bolsonaro's unwillingness to concede, as well as his behavior leading up to the election, is similar to one of his closest allies — former President Donald Trump. Often called the "Tropical Trump" himself, Bolsonaro has previously said he would possibly refuse to accept the electoral outcome, and also claimed to be the victim of widespread voter fraud, something that is almost directly out of Trump's playbook following his 2020 loss to President Biden.

Justin Klawans, The Week US

Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.