Brazil’s far-right president challenges election results

Brazil’s far-right president is challenging the country’s election results, which saw him lose in October. President Jair Bolsonaro’s party, the Liberal Party, has argued that ballots from some machines were compromised during the second round and that the electoral court should reject them.

Several news outlets reported today that Brazil’s supreme court justice has now given the party 24 hours to amend its petition to include the first round of October’s vote.

The Liberal Party claims that if the votes that were compromised were discounted, he would win re-election “with 51.05% of the valid votes, against 48.95% for Lula.”

Another party, the Brazilian Social Democracy party, has called Bolsonaro’s claim “senseless.” The party took to Twitter to say the claim would be resisted “by institutions, the international community and Brazilian society.”

Bolsonaro has a strong support base from evangelical Christians. The president has made shocking statements about the LGBTQ+ community. In a 2011 interview for Playboy Brazil, he said that he would rather his son died than be gay.

Bolsonaro isn’t the only right-wing politician bitter about election results. Last week, former US President Donald Trump officially announced his bid for the 2024 White House after teasing fans for months. Trump is defying calls from GOP key party leaders and donors after a huge loss in last week’s midterm elections.

Trump ploughed forward filing federal paperwork to declare his 2024 run, just 23 minutes before conducting a speech, which saw hundreds of supporters in attendance. He was the first major contender from either party to declare his bid. He said…

“In order to make America great again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for President of the United States. America’s comeback starts right now. Two years ago, we were a great nation and, soon, we will be a great nation again.”

Time will tell if either Bolsonaro or Trump get what they want.