Brazil truckers protest against Lula election win as Bolsonaro remains silent

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Truckers blocked highways at more than 300 points across Brazil to protest at leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in Sunday’s presidential election, as concern lingered over incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro’s failure to recognise his defeat.

More than 24 hours after election officials declared that Lula had won the contest by a narrow margin of 1.8 percentage points, the hard-right president was ignoring appeals by allies to concede and had not appeared in public or made a statement.

Alexandre de Moraes, Brazil’s top electoral official, ordered highway police late on Monday to “take all necessary measures” to clear the truckers’ blockades, which were disrupting traffic in more than 300 points around the country. He threatened to imprison the force’s chief if he did not obey.

Truckers represent a critical group of supporters for Bolsonaro and have benefited from lower fuel costs under his government. There was no sign that other groups were joining the protests and most of the country remained quiet after the election.

Financial markets traded cautiously on Monday, with the Bovespa stock index closing up 1.3 per cent and the real currency firmer against the dollar, as investors waited for clearer signals from veteran leftist Lula on economic policy and from Bolsonaro on his political intentions.

While world leaders including US president Joe Biden sent their congratulations to Lula, his defeated rival spent election night and the following day in silence in Brasília after losing by just 1.8 percentage points, with news reports saying he was struggling to accept his defeat and had refused to receive even close aides.

The social media accounts of the president, a former army captain, and his three politician sons were uncharacteristically quiet apart from a solitary post on Monday by Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator, on Twitter thanking supporters and adding: “Let’s raise our heads and let’s not give up on our Brazil! God in charge!”

Andre Perfeito of brokerage Necton said: “We need to see what Bolsonaro is going to do. We need the president to say something.”

Bolsonaro’s communications minister, Fábio Faria, told the Reuters news agency that the president would not speak until Tuesday.

Sunday’s result marked a dramatic comeback for Lula, who was president for two terms between 2003 and 2010 but subsequently accused of corruption. He served time in prison before his convictions were annulled.

Investors were also waiting to see who Lula would pick for the crucial roles of finance minister and chief of staff, with former health minister Alexandre Padilha and Fernando Haddad, the ex-mayor of São Paulo, said to be in the running.

Lula’s win followed a campaign marred by an avalanche of fake news and mudslinging, prompting frequent interventions from the supreme court and top electoral authority and sparking fears of post-electoral conflict.

Arthur Lira, speaker of the lower house of Congress and one of the few Bolsonaro allies to comment publicly, said it was “time to disarm the passions and reach out to opponents”.

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Lula’s victory was warmly received by global leaders, who will welcome Brazil’s return to multilateralism after the diplomatic isolation of the Bolsonaro years.

As well as Biden, president Emmanuel Macron of France and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were quick to congratulate Lula. Biden telephoned Lula on Monday to discuss future co-operation and highlighted in a statement that Brazil’s elections had been “free, fair and credible”. Russian president Vladimir Putin also sent his congratulations. Russia is a big fertiliser supplier to Brazil.

Lula’s win will bring to an end four years of hard-right populism and nationalism under Bolsonaro. It is the latest in a string of races that have turfed out incumbents across Latin America, returning mainly leftwing leaders.

The victory has also raised hopes of an end to illegal deforestation in the Amazon. Lula has pledged to halt the practice following a surge in destruction of the earth’s largest rainforest under Bolsonaro.

Lula won 50.9 per cent of the vote versus 49.1 for Bolsonaro after edging ahead during a cliffhanger three-hour count. He faces huge challenges.

Brazil’s economy is set to slow sharply next year and government finances have been strained by a pre-election spending splurge from Bolsonaro, who succeeded in circumventing a constitutional cap on public spending to try to win re-election.

Global economic headwinds and weaker growth in China, Brazil’s biggest trading partner, will complicate Lula’s challenges in delivering on ambitious promises to boost spending on welfare, health and education. Investors have raised concerns about his refusal so far to commit to firm targets on budget discipline or to detail how he would fund his pledges.