The Liberal Party of former President Jair Bolsonaro has recognized the result of the presidential election in Brazil, won by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The position was announced on October 26 by the party's national chairman, Waldemar Costa Neto.
“We recognize the result of the presidential election, but we believe that the issues raised should be clarified within a balanced and democratic political debate,“ Costa Neto said.
Lula won by more than 4.4 million votes
In the runoff on October 25, Lula received 64,256,232 votes, or 51.79% of the actual votes. Liberal Party candidate Flavio Bolsonaro came in second with 59,826,041 votes or 48.21%. The difference between the two is 4,430,191 votes.
The result was announced by the Supreme Electoral Court, which confirmed Lula's re-election for a fourth presidential term. Lula also became the first candidate in Brazilian history to win a presidential runoff after coming in second in the first round.
The party and its candidate took different positions
Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator and son of Jair Bolsonaro, led after the first round by about 2.2 million votes, but was unable to maintain his lead in the runoff. After the results were announced, he refused to recognize Lula's victory and said he would seek the annulment of the election.
Thus, the Liberal Party accepted the result announced by the electoral authorities, but at the same time left open the issue of allegations and questions raised by Bolsonaro's camp. The party did not announce that it was abandoning its political objections, but it did not publicly support its candidate's request to annul the vote.
Sources: cnnbrasil.com.br, timesofisrael.com, apnews.com