Bolsonaro avoids talking about the defeat but opens the door to the transfer of power in Brazil

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, this Tuesday at the Alvorada Palace, his residence in Brasilia, during his first speech after losing the elections on Sunday. Joédson Alves (EFE)

Two minutes has lasted the intervention with which the president of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, has broken his silence 45 hours after losing the elections on Sunday.

The far-right has not explicitly admitted his defeat or the results;

only implicitly.

He has not mentioned the winner either, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but he has stated: "I will continue to fulfill the mandates of the Constitution."

As soon as the president left the lectern and left the room, the Minister of the Civil House, Ciro Nogueira, took the floor to say that the Head of State had authorized him to undertake the transition of powers.

That is to say, it has been staged with a very measured speech so as not to lose face before its most radical followers, but neither does it prevent the legal process established for a new government to take power from starting.

Subject to intense pressure from allies, ministers and representatives of other institutions, Bolsonaro was reluctant to acknowledge the results.

He has finally appeared at his residence, the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia, after keeping his compatriots, foreign ministries and the press from around the world on edge.

Nor was it in his power to prevent the transfer because the electoral results are official since the Superior Electoral Court proclaimed them on Sunday night: 50.9% of the votes for Lula and 49.1% for Bolsonaro, the closest victory of Brazilian history.

The verdict of the electronic ballot boxes was immediately recognized by the presidents of the two legislative chambers and the Bolsonaro team has not resorted to legal channels.

Fears of a Trump-like drift dissipate.

The collaborators of the winner and the Bolsonaro Cabinet plan to start working on the transfer of powers this Wednesday.

In that game of balance that is Brazilian politics, where gestures and timing are crucial, the Supreme Court highlighted shortly after in a

the importance of the president appearing and having "determined the beginning of the transition and recognized the result end of the elections.

Bolsonaro has also referred in very measured words to the roadblocks, carried out by some of his most exalted supporters.

He has first affirmed that peaceful protests "are welcome", but not "the methods of the left such as land invasions", and has culminated by insisting that the mobilizations "are the result of indignation and injustice".

The president has highlighted that, although defeated, he garnered strong support at the polls.

And he has made it clear that the extreme right came to Brazil with force with him and for the moment it will stay, even if he has to leave power.

In addition to thanking his 58 million voters, Bolsonaro has stressed that "the right really emerged in our country."

This was evident with the election of a new Congress in the first round, on October 2, when Bolsonaro and his conservative and opportunist allies won the majority of seats.

"Our strong representation in Congress shows the strength of our values: God, country, family and freedom," he has said.

Thus concludes a suspense that has lasted months before the elections and the almost two days that have elapsed after about what the ultra-rightist's attitude was going to be in the face of a hypothetical defeat that materialized on Sunday at eight in the afternoon.

The result was so tight that it was only confirmed with 98% scrutinized.

Bolsonaro must have been in

because it is the first time in his career that he has lost an election.

Since, after being invited to leave the Army through the back door, he embarked on a political career as a deputy, Bolsonaro and his three adult children had won one after another all the elections they had contested.

Subscribe here to the