ÜBrazilian President Jair Bolsonaro remained silent for more than 40 hours after Sunday’s election. He finally addressed the press late Tuesday afternoon at his residence in Brasilia. “I will continue to abide by the constitution,” Bolsonaro said after thanking his constituents. In the speech, which lasted a little over two minutes, Bolsonaro complained that he was wrongly called an anti-democrat. “I have always been labeled as undemocratic and, unlike my accusers, have always played within the four lines of the constitution.” Although his government has the “system” against it, you are overcoming the pandemic and the aftermath of war.
Bolsonaro did not literally acknowledge his electoral defeat against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Instead, he sent his chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, who announced that Bolsonaro had empowered him to start a transition process for the change of government. The first contacts between Nogueira and other members of the government and representatives of Lula da Silva’s team had already taken place on Tuesday. Perhaps his clearest statement regarding his impending departure, Bolsonaro made before the actual speech when he turned to Nogueira and audibly said, “You will miss us.” The Supreme Court also interpreted Bolsonaro’s speech as an acknowledgment of the election and its outcome.
Street blockades by Bolsonaro supporters
In the days since the election, Bolsonaro’s silence has encouraged radical supporters, who feel they have been cheated out of victory and do not want to sit idly by their president’s electoral defeat, to engage in sometimes criminal protest actions. Groups of angry citizens and truck drivers have been blocking a number of connecting roads in the country since Sunday night. Several hundred highways are affected across the country. On Monday, numerous flights to and from São Paulo had to be canceled or postponed because an access road to the international airport was blocked.
“The current popular movements are the result of outrage and a sense of injustice at how the electoral process went,” Bolsonaro said of the protests. Peaceful demonstrations are always welcome, he said, but criticized the roadblocks. “Our methods must not be those of the left, which have always harmed the population.”
It is questionable whether these words by Bolsonaro will be able to break up the protests. The actions have acquired a momentum of their own. In social networks and spurred on by fake news about alleged electoral fraud, Bolsonaro supporters have mutually encouraged each other in their will not to stand idly by and accept the election defeat. After initially hesitant action, security forces pushed ahead with clearing blockades on Tuesday and under threat of fines from the Supreme Court.
The pressure on Bolsonaro to acknowledge his electoral defeat had been increasing since Sunday evening and as the protests progressed. Various personalities from the political environment of the president had already acknowledged Lula da Silva’s election victory on the evening of the election. Since Monday, ministers and advisors have been trying to convince Bolsonaro to make a quick statement to prevent an escalation. Bolsonaro found himself increasingly isolated. It is unclear what caused the President to remain silent for a long time. Observers suspect that Bolsonaro did not want to disappoint his most loyal supporters with a quick yielding. There is also speculation as to whether Bolsonaro should have explored ways to contest the election result.