The president of the United States, Donald Trump, described this Monday as “fraudulent” and “very corrupt” the presidential elections in Brazil, in which the current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the second round on Sunday before the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro.
The US president’s statements came before boarding the official Air Force One plane bound for an election rally in Mississippi.
Despite highlighting that he did not take an official side during the race, Trump questioned the conduct of the voting and regretted the image projected after the last minute adjustment dictated by the Brazilian Supreme Court to extend the election day.
“It looks terrible. I thought it was terrible. I mean, I didn’t take sides, but it seemed like another fraudulent election. I honestly 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 said.
Asked if he hopes to do anything about it, trump He responded: “Well, I don’t govern Brazil, I govern the United States; I like Lula, we get along well, but I think the elections gave a very bad image.”
The result of the runoff — in which Lula won re-election for an unprecedented fourth term with 52% of the votes compared to 48% of Flavio Bolsonaro— caused the representation of the opposition alliance to announce legal actions to challenge the elections, while the US Executive temporarily halted the diplomatic protocols of electoral recognition.
Washington’s questioning reflects the ideological tensions in hemispheric geopolitics, after the setback of the conservative sector in the main economic and political partner of the Southern Cone.
The position expressed by the US Executive aligns the White House with the complaints of irregularities put forward by those around the Bolsonaro family.
However, observation organizations and foreign ministries on the continent have already ratified the recognition of the results issued by the Brazilian electoral court.
