Trump Calls Brazil Vote “Rigged” After Lula’s 51.79 Percent Win
(MENAFN) Donald Trump cast doubt on the integrity of Brazil’s presidential election Monday, calling the outcome “rigged” and “corrupt” without offering any evidence.
The US president made the comments to reporters as he traveled to a midterm campaign rally in Corinth, Mississippi. Asked whether the runoff, held the previous day, had been “fair.”
“Well, it looked terrible to me. I thought it was terrible looking,” he said. He added that he had not backed either side in the race.
“It looked like another rigged election, frankly,” he said.
The comments followed a decisive result. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a fourth nonconsecutive term as Brazil’s president, beating Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro in Sunday’s runoff. Lula took 51.79% of valid votes, more than 64 million ballots, against 48.21% for Bolsonaro.
Trump insisted that elections must be beyond question and said Brazil’s vote left a poor impression abroad.
“Elections have to be indisputable, and it looked very bad to me,” he told reporters.
He stressed again that he had neither endorsed a candidate nor taken a position in the contest, even as he kept attacking how the vote was run.
“I watched the election. It looked so, so corrupt, so terrible,” he said.
The president also spoke warmly of the winner.
“I’m not running Brazil. I’m running the US. I like Lula. I get along with him very well ... but the extension given was very strange,” he said.
The US president made the comments to reporters as he traveled to a midterm campaign rally in Corinth, Mississippi. Asked whether the runoff, held the previous day, had been “fair.”
“Well, it looked terrible to me. I thought it was terrible looking,” he said. He added that he had not backed either side in the race.
“It looked like another rigged election, frankly,” he said.
The comments followed a decisive result. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a fourth nonconsecutive term as Brazil’s president, beating Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro in Sunday’s runoff. Lula took 51.79% of valid votes, more than 64 million ballots, against 48.21% for Bolsonaro.
Trump insisted that elections must be beyond question and said Brazil’s vote left a poor impression abroad.
“Elections have to be indisputable, and it looked very bad to me,” he told reporters.
He stressed again that he had neither endorsed a candidate nor taken a position in the contest, even as he kept attacking how the vote was run.
“I watched the election. It looked so, so corrupt, so terrible,” he said.
The president also spoke warmly of the winner.
“I’m not running Brazil. I’m running the US. I like Lula. I get along with him very well ... but the extension given was very strange,” he said.
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