The Brazilian Liberal Party, the political force for which the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro ran, yesterday recognized the results of the presidential elections that ended with the re-election of the left-wing president Lula da Silva.
Through a letter published on his social networks, the president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, stated, without naming Lula, that he “recognizes the result proclaimed by the Superior Electoral Court,” although he asked that the “questions raised” be “duly clarified.”
The progressive leader claimed victory in the second round of elections held on Sunday by obtaining 52% of the votes, compared to 48% for the far-right.
The opposition, a “fortress against barbarism”
Bolsonaro announced that his task now will be to “organize” the opposition bench in Congress to turn both chambers into a “fortress against the barbarism” that, in his opinion, will represent the next four years of government management.
However, he confirmed that he will insist before the Court that the president’s candidacy be annulled due to alleged abuses of economic power and a “fake news industrial complex” created by Lula’s campaign.
The market, not so happy
The market, which discounted a victory for Bolsonaro after his victory in the first round, has harshly punished the stock market due to the expectation of an increase in public spending in the next four years. The re-election of the progressive leader unleashed financial turbulence. The São Paulo stock exchange, the largest in Latin America by traded volume, closed with a collapse of almost 14% after a negative session in which it surpassed its historical devaluation record.
At the beginning of the day, large banks recorded losses of up to double digits, while retail giants fell close to 50%. This forced it to suspend its operations for 30 minutes in an attempt to curb the impact, something that had not happened since March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.
Given this, the head of the PT, Edinho Silva, said in an interview with CNN Brazil that Lula will seek to achieve a fiscal surplus during “every year” of his new mandate, which will begin on January 5, 2027.
