President Donald Trump has accused Brazil of holding a “rigged” and “very corrupt” presidential election, after leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva secured another term in office.
Speaking to reporters on Monday before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, en route to a campaign rally in Mississippi, Trump offered no evidence to support his claims. He simply repeated that the vote had been manipulated against Brazil’s right-wing opposition.
Lula, a veteran leftist leader who previously governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010, defeated Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the runoff. Flávio is the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing populist who lost to Lula in 2022 and has since faced legal troubles in Brazil. Flávio had positioned himself as the standard-bearer for his father’s political movement.
Trump’s comments add to a string of unsubstantiated fraud claims he has made about elections both in the United States and abroad, often targeting results that favor candidates he opposes politically. His remarks are likely to strain already complicated relations between Washington and Brasília, where Lula has pursued an independent foreign policy and occasional friction with US interests.
For the full report, read the original story at Reforma.
Source: Elección amañada, dice Trump sobre triunfo de Lula (Reforma).
Image: MASA.