Trump says Brazil's runoff looked rigged after Lula beats Flávio Bolsonaro

Trump's comments after the runoff

Donald Trump told reporters on Monday, 26 October, that Brazil's presidential runoff looked manipulated, one day after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat the far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro on Sunday, 25 October. Asked about the result, Trump said he had not taken sides, yet he described the vote as another electoral fraud and offered no proof. Bloomberg carried his English words on the matter.

“It looked like another rigged election”

Trump also called the process corrupt and said the way the tabulation was carried out looked bad. He added that he likes Lula and gets along well with him, even as he questioned the outcome.

Questions about voting hours and counting

Trump singled out the decision by Brazil's Federal Supreme Court to move the closing of polling stations from 17:00 to 19:00 because of transport problems in several cities, calling the extension strange. Europa Press reported that he said the election had left a terrible impression on the world. El Confidencial noted that his remarks came more than 40 hours after the result became known, and that he again provided no evidence for his claim of fraud. The runoff was the second round of the presidential election, which Lula won against Flávio Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro camp and US ties

Flávio Bolsonaro said he would not recognise the results of the runoff, according to El Confidencial. Europa Press noted that Trump had not explicitly backed him in this election, although he received Flávio Bolsonaro at the White House in May. Brazil has refused to join the Shield of the Americas, a US-led military coalition against drug cartels. In May, Washington designated Brazil's two largest criminal groups as terrorist organisations, and Lula warned that this could serve as a justification for an American intervention.

Minerals and what the result means

Analysts cited by 20 Minuten see Lula's victory as a brake on Washington's efforts to bring Brazil into the anti-cartel coalition and to gain preferential access to the country's mineral resources. Lula's government pushed through, at speed, a law that tightens oversight of critical minerals. Brazil's niobium deposits are of major interest to the United States. Monica de Bolle of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington said Brazil holds real influence and that Washington stands on shakier ground with Lula in office.