(Sao Paulo) Former left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that he hoped that Jair Bolsonaro would accept the verdict of the polls in the event of a defeat on Sunday in the second round of the presidential election in Brazil.
Posted at 5:32 p.m.
“I hope that if I win the election, he will have a moment of wisdom and call me to acknowledge the result,” Lula said at a press conference in Sao Paulo (southeast Brazil).
“If Bolsonaro loses and he wants to cry… I lost three elections,” Lula recalled. “Every time I lost, I went home. I didn’t swear and didn’t blame anyone but myself,” he added.
On several occasions, incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro has questioned Brazil’s electronic voting system and threatened not to accept the outcome of the polls in the event of a defeat against his left-wing rival.
The far-right incumbent has toned down his rhetoric in recent weeks, however, seeking to woo undecided voters, saying he would accept the result if it weren’t “abnormal”.
Lula is credited with 52% of the voting intentions against 48% for Jair Bolsonaro, according to a poll published last week by the Datafolha institute.
A final televised debate on Friday will pit the two finalists against each other.
“The strategy of any candidate is first to try to convince the people who did not go to vote [au premier tour], for one reason or another. To try to win every vote, to make it easy for people to vote,” said the left-wing ex-president (2003-2010).
“This election will define whether we want to live in a democracy or under chaos, neo-fascism. This is what is at stake. I hope that people will choose democracy,” insisted the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT).
In the first round on October 2, Jair Bolsonaro won more votes than predicted by opinion polls, at 43% against 48% for Lula.