Brazil: Bolsonaro will accept possible defeat if 'nothing abnormal' happens

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, candidate for re-election, said Friday that he would recognize a possible defeat in the second round of the presidential election on October 30 provided that "

" occurs during the vote.

“

,” Bolsonaro said in a live interview on SBT, where he was asked if he would accept the result in the event of a setback. .

"

", added the former army captain who, in the months preceding the election, raised on several occasions and without proof the possibility of "

" through the electronic ballot boxes used to vote in Brazil.

He had gone so far as to threaten not to recognize the results if he lost against Lula, candidate of the Workers' Party.

Criticisms against polling institutes

Lula has long been the big favorite in the polls, with a 21-point lead over Jair Bolsonaro in May, according to the Datafolha institute.

But the outgoing president created a surprise in the first round of the election, on October 2, by obtaining 43% of the vote, only five points less than Lula, a gap much smaller than what the opinion polls predicted. .

Read alsoBrazil: Lula and Bolsonaro play presidential overtime

In the home stretch of the campaign, Mr. Bolsonaro silenced his attacks on electronic voting and postponed them against the polling institutes, which he accused of “

” to favor his main opponent.

The polls still place Lula in the lead, with 49% against 45% for Jair Bolsonaro according to Datafolha, with 1% undecided and 4% blank or null votes.

The interview in which Mr. Bolsonaro participated this Friday replaced what was to be the second debate between the two candidates of the second round, in which Lula decided not to participate because of “

”, according to the organizers.