Protests, highway blockages by Jair Bolsonaro backers lose steam as government transition talks held in Brasilia.
Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s team has met outgoing leader Jair Bolsonaro’s camp to discuss the country’s political transition as pro-Bolsonaro protests and highway blockages have started to fizzle out.
Lula’s Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin, a former Sao Paulo governor tapped to lead the transition process, held talks with Bolsonaro’s chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, on Thursday in the capital, Brasilia.
“The conversation was very fruitful, very objective,” Alckmin said during a news conference. “The transition has begun … As Lula said in his victory speech, our task is to unite Brazil. So here we go.”
The head of Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT), Gleisi Hoffmann, and the transition team’s technical coordinator, Aloizio Mercadante, were also present.
Nogueira had told reporters this week that Bolsonaro had “authorised” the transition. The far-right leader said on Tuesday that he will respect Brazil’s constitution, but he stopped short of conceding the election or congratulating Lula on his victory in Sunday’s run-off.
Lula, who previously served as president from 2003 to 2010, secured 50.9 percent of the vote compared with 49.1 percent for Bolsonaro. He is the first sitting Brazilian president to lose a re-election bid in Brazil’s post-dictatorship era.
Bolsonaro had remained silent for nearly 48 hours after the results were announced, raising concerns that the former army captain could be planning to contest the results.
For months, he had falsely claimed Brazil’s electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud, and rights groups and international observers had warned against any anti-democratic actions should Bolsonaro lose to Lula, as most polls had predicted.
But many of Bolsonaro’s top allies quickly recognised Lula’s victory and world leaders also congratulated Brazil on holding “free, fair and credible elections”.
“All of Bolsonaro’s escape valves were shut off,” Brian Winter, a longtime Brazil expert and vice president of the New York-based Council of the Americas, told The Associated Press. “He was prevailed upon from all sides not to contest the results and burn down the house on his way out.”
Nevertheless, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters have taken to the streets this week to protest the…