Brazil: Lula's election victory confirmed

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Burning bus in Brasilia: Bolsonaro supporters protest

Photo: Eraldo Peres/AP

Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva broke down in tears at a ceremony to confirm his election victory.

After receiving the official certificate of victory in the presidential runoff at the end of October, the 77-year-old former metal worker praised "the courage of the Brazilian people to present this document to someone who has so often been attacked for not having a university degree".

The left-leaning Lula, who was Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, is scheduled to be sworn in on January 1.

He had prevailed in the runoff against the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

Lula described the ceremony before the Supreme Electoral Court as a "celebration of true democracy."

Rarely in Brazil's recent history has democracy been "threatened so much."

So far, Bolsonaro has not explicitly admitted his electoral defeat.

He encouraged his supporters to protest against the election results, but authorized the process of handover of office.

Bolsonaro supporters clash with police

Meanwhile, radical Bolsonaro supporters tried to break into the federal police building in the capital Brasilia on Monday evening.

This is reported, among other things, by the news agency Agência Brasil, citing the militarized police.

Accordingly, people protested against the provisional arrest warrant for an indigenous Bolsonaro supporter, burning cars and buses.

There were clashes with the police, who used tear gas.

Right-wing Bolsonaro narrowly lost to left-wing former President Lula in the runoff election for the presidency in Latin America's largest country at the end of October.

Many of his supporters, unwilling to accept Lula's election victory, are demonstrating against it in different parts of Brazil.

Because they suspect fraud because of the close election result, they repeatedly call for military intervention.

ptz/dpa/AFP