Bolsonaro Refuses to Accept Brazil Election Results, Vows to Request Annulment

As incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva secured his fourth term in the runoff presidential election held on the 25th local time, his rival, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, signaled that he would not accept the election results.

According to foreign media outlets such as AP and AFP, Senator Bolsonaro stated that day, "We cannot accept the voting results," adding, "We will request the annulment of this election."

Senator Bolsonaro took issue with the fact that the voting deadline for the runoff was extended by two hours due to public transportation dispatch issues and other factors.

Earlier, Brazil's Supreme Federal Court extended the voting deadline for the runoff by two hours, moving it from the original 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

This decision came after accepting a request from Lula's campaign, which argued that the right to vote was being infringed upon due to a severe shortage of public transportation dispatches for voters in major cities.

Bolsonaro's camp had also previously requested an extension of voting hours citing severe weather in three states, including Sao Paulo.

However, Bolsonaro argued that extending the voting hours was an unprecedented measure and that he could not accept the election results stemming from it.

According to Brazil's Superior Electoral Court, President Lula won the election with 51.8% of the vote, defeating candidate Bolsonaro by a margin of about 4.4 million votes.

President Lula first took office in 2003, and this marks his fourth term.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.