A Punishing Blow For President Bolsonaro As Leftist Leader Takes Over

<h4>&NewLine;A Punishing Blow For President Bolsonaro<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Brazilian leftist leader&comma; Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva&comma; narrowly defeated President Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election&period; But the far right incumbent did not concede defeat on Sunday night&comma; raising concerns that he might contest the result&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Supreme Electoral Court &lpar;TSE&rpar; declared Lula the next president&comma; with 50&period;9&percnt; of votes against 49&period;1&percnt; for Bolsonaro&period; The 77-year-old Lula&&num;8217&semi;s inauguration is scheduled for Jan&period; 1&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It was a stunning comeback for the leftist former president and a punishing blow to Bolsonaro&comma; the first Brazilian incumbent to lose a presidential election&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;So far&comma; Bolsonaro has not called me to recognize my victory&comma; and I don&&num;8217&semi;t know if he will call or if he will recognize my victory&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Lula told tens of thousands of jubilant supporters celebrating his win on Sao Paulo&&num;8217&semi;s Paulista Ave&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In contrast to Bolsonaro&&num;8217&semi;s silence&comma; congratulations for Lula poured in from foreign leaders&comma; including U&period;S&period; President Joe Biden&comma; Russian President Vladimir Putin&comma; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;A source in the Bolsonaro campaign told Reuters the president would not make public remarks until Monday&period; The Bolsonaro campaign did not respond to a request for comment&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Bolsonaro last year openly discussed refusing to accept the results of the vote&comma; making baseless claims that Brazil&&num;8217&semi;s electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;One close <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;reuters&period;com&sol;">Bolsonaro ally&comma; lawmaker Carla Zambelli&comma;<&sol;a><&sol;strong> in an apparent nod to the results&comma; wrote on Twitter&comma; &&num;8220&semi;I PROMISE you&comma; I will be the greatest opposition that Lula has ever imagined&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Financial markets might be in for a volatile week&comma; with investors gauging speculation about Lula&&num;8217&semi;s cabinet and the risk of Bolsonaro questioning results&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The vote was a rebuke for the fiery far-right populism of Bolsonaro&comma; who emerged from the back benches of Congress to forge a novel conservative coalition but lost support as Brazil ran up one of the worst death tolls of the coronavirus pandemic&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Biden congratulated Lula for winning &&num;8220&semi;free&comma; fair and credible elections&comma;&&num;8221&semi; joining the chorus of compliments from European and Latin American leaders&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;International election observers said Sunday&&num;8217&semi;s election was conducted efficiently&period; One observer told Reuters that military auditors did not find any flaws in integrity tests they did of the voting system&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Truck drivers believed to be Bolsonaro supporters on Sunday blocked a highway in four places in the state of Mato Grosso&comma; a major grains producer&comma; according to the highway operator&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In one video circulating online&comma; a man said truckers planned to block main highways&comma; calling for a military coup to prevent Lula from taking office&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Lula&&num;8217&semi;s win consolidates a new &&num;8220&semi;pink tide&&num;8221&semi; in Latin America&comma; after landmark leftist victories in Colombia and Chile&&num;8217&semi;s elections&comma; echoing a regional political shift two decades ago that introduced Lula to the world stage&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He has vowed a return to state-driven economic growth and social policies that helped lift millions out of poverty during two terms as president from 2003 to 2010&period; He also promises to combat destruction of the Amazon rainforest&comma; now at a 15-year high&comma; and make Brazil a leader in global climate talks&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;These were four years of hatred&comma; of negation of science&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Ana Valeria Doria&comma; 60&comma; a doctor in Rio de Janeiro who celebrated with a drink&period; &&num;8220&semi;It won&&num;8217&semi;t be easy for Lula to manage the division in this country&period; But for now it&&num;8217&semi;s pure happiness&period;&&num;8221&semi; A former union leader born into poverty&comma; Lula organized strikes against Brazil&&num;8217&semi;s military government in the 1970s&period; His two-term presidency was marked by a commodity-driven economic boom and he left office with record popularity&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;However&comma; his Workers Party was later tarred by a deep recession and a record-breaking corruption scandal that jailed him for 19 months on bribery convictions&comma; which were overturned by the Supreme Court last year&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Source&colon; Reuters<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;