Lula's Victory In Doubt,citizens Request For Military Interference

By Adeyemi Adekunle

Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian President yesterday held rallies calling for military intervention following the victory of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the poll, the military declined the move calling it out of “context”.

Brazilian electoral body had on Sunday announced Lula’s victory which he polled 51% of the vote. Although Bolsonaro has not officially acknowledged the result, but the cabinet has started preparation for smooth transition, while Lula set to take over the presidency on early next year.

Bolsonaro’s supporters in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro led festive rallies on Wednesday, carrying Brazil’s yellow-and-green flag draped over their shoulders, blowing horns and chanting anti-Lula slogans.

“We hope the army will intervene in this situation, we know that those elections were fraudulent,” said Reinaldo da Silva, 65, a retired government worker at a rally at the entrance to a Sao Paulo army barracks.

“I came today because I want Brazil to be free, socialism does not work with the Brazilian nation.”

Similar rallies were held at barracks in a total of nine states and the capital Brasilia, according to Brazilian online media portal UOL.

Defense ministry in Brazil’s took time before it respond to a request for comment.

President Jair Bolsonaro supporters at a rally yesterday.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has cultivated strong ties to the military since his 2018 election, winning over the political sympathies of some of the top brass.

Like many politically conservative Brazilians, he has often waxed nostalgic for the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. Lula, by contrast, was jailed in the 1970s for protesting against the military government.

But the military have been wary of direct involvement in politics since the dictatorship, which left the country in economic chaos.

Paulo Chagas, a retired cavalry general who campaigned for Bolsonaro in 2018, said in a message to Reuters: “The military know full well what their duty is: the constitution does not allow them to intervene in politics.”

General Otavio Rego Barros, a former spokesman for Bolsonaro, said in a column published on Wednesday that it was time for the election losers to concede and think of Brazil’s future.

He criticized “groups with no sense of responsibility that still seek to destabilize a weakened social fabric with provocations and misinformation.”

Chagas and Rego Barros fell out with Bolsonaro over his pressure on the armed forces to endorse him politically.

Political leaders around the world have continued to congratulate Lula on his victory, with the White House commending him for winning “free, fair and credible elections.”