Bolsonaro: “We have defeated the lies of the polls and will now win the elections”

Incumbent Brazilian president and candidate for Brazil’s elections, Jair Bolsonaro (PL, right), has affirmed that he has “full confidence” in the second round in which he will face Workers’ Party (PT, left) leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has been convicted of corruption.

Bolsonaro celebrated the result, which he achieved after polls had predicted a defeat for the candidate and a victory for Lula da Silva in the first round.

“Now we have full confidence,” he said after stressing that he had overcome the “lies” of the research institutes, referring to the publication of the polls by the company Datafolha.

Datafolha is notorious for its left-biased polls; surprisingly, this company is still allowed to perform this work in Brazil.

After 99.07 percent of the votes were counted, Lula da Silva, the leader of the Workers’ Party, emerged as the winner of the first round with 48.43 percent of the vote – more than 57 million votes.

Bolsonaro, the outgoing president and leader of the Liberal Party, received 43.20 percent of the vote – more than 51 million voters – according to data released by the Superior Electoral Court TSE.

The difference between the two main candidates is now just over four percentage points, according to the count of almost all ballot boxes.

In his first statement after Sunday’s election results, Bolsonaro, the leader of the Liberal Party, indicated that he sees a change in the country that could hurt the country.

“I understand that the population has a desire for change, but there are certain changes that could be for the worse,” he said, according to O Globo newspaper.

The president also said he was willing to negotiate with candidates who did not make it to the second round.

“The doors are open for talks,” he said, adding that the voters for Simone Tebet and Ciro Gomes are “much more sympathetic to his ideals” than his rival.

Simone Tebet, who is in third place, received 4.16 percent of the vote. Ciro Gomes, who is in fourth place, received 3.04 percent.

The other candidates did not receive more than one percent of the vote.

With information from La Gaceta de la Iberosfera

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