“I was always a happy person among you, I even risked my life among the people,” said Bolsonaro, who was critically injured in a knife attack during the 2018 election campaign. Brazil is now “at a crucial moment, at a crossroads”.
The outgoing President also stressed that the decision on political leadership rests with the electorate. “It is the people who decide their fate,” said Bolsonaro. The people also decide about the army and its deployment.
After Bolsonaro’s election defeat, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters demonstrated in front of military barracks and called on the armed forces to prevent Lula from taking over government affairs. On Friday, Bolsonaro described the army as “the last stronghold against socialism”.
Bolsonaro narrowly lost the runoff election for the presidency on October 30. While he got 49.1 percent, Lula won 50.9 percent of the vote.
After the election, Bolsonaro initially did not comment on his defeat. It was only two days later that the right-wing extremist politician signaled his readiness for a peaceful handover of power to Lula, without explicitly admitting his defeat. The head of state went into hiding and made only one public appearance, on November 26 at a military school.
More than three weeks after the ballot, Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL) appealed the official election result to the Supreme Electoral Court. However, the court dismissed the complaint and fined the PL heavily for malicious and unsubstantiated allegations about the conduct of the election.
