The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has classified the Brazilian elections as a “fraud” this Monday, in which President Lula da Silva won on Sunday over the far-right Flávio Bolsonaro.
“It looks terrible. I thought it was terrible. I mean, I didn’t take sides, but it looks like another fraudulent election,” the American president declared to the press.
“Honestly, I didn’t take sides, but the image it gave is terrible. I didn’t support anyone or anything. But I saw the elections and they seemed very, very corrupt,” he added.
Bolsonaro denies his defeat
Lula won the second round of the presidential elections on Sunday and obtained a fourth term, defeating against the odds Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who had won the first round on October 4.
After knowing the result, Bolsonaro refused to recognize Lula’s victory and announced that he will request the “annulment” of the elections in court due to the controversial judicial decision that extended voting hours throughout the country by two hours, in response to a request from the president-elect’s campaign.
Lula’s victory represents a setback for Trump’s plans to extend Washington’s influence in Latin America through right-wing governments aligned with his agenda.
Although Trump did not openly support Flávio Bolsonaro, he did make gestures to him such as receiving him in the Oval Office in May, a rare honor for a foreign senator.
Furthermore, since his return to power, Trump has increased pressure on Lula’s government and last year imposed high tariffs on Brazil in response to the judicial process against Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of the Republican during his first term, who was convicted of attempting a coup d’état.
The Brazilian stock market closes the day with a resounding fall
On the other hand, the São Paulo Stock Exchange closed this Monday with a sharp drop of 13.88% after the re-election of the Brazilian president, Lula da Silva, in the elections held on Sunday.
The Ibovespa, the benchmark index for the Brazilian stock market, ended at 176,608 basis points, some 28,000 units less than in Friday’s session, the last one before the elections.
In addition, the real depreciated 8.25% against the dollar, which ended up trading this Monday at 5.403 reais for sale and 5.402 for purchase in the Brazilian exchange market.
