Former left-wing Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday that he feared "trouble" if he won over outgoing head of state Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential election, the first round of which takes place on Sunday.

Favorite in the polls, Lula, 76, is seeking a third term, after having governed the country from 2003 to 2010. At the time, he was elected by beating representatives of the PSDB, a center-right party, in the second round.

“With the PSDB, we played politics.

When they won they celebrated and when they lost they let the winners celebrate.

Bolsonaro does not behave like that, and he can try to stir up trouble during the transition "before the inauguration of the elected president, Lula said at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro (southeast).

“It will be much more difficult than in 2002”

He is counting on an intense campaign centered on the “useful vote” to win in the first round.

If he does not succeed, the second round will take place on October 30.

If he wins, he will have to wait until January 1 to take office, when he is inaugurated in Brasilia.

“It will be much more difficult than in 2002 (during his first presidential victory), when we had experienced an extraordinary, peaceful transition with the PSDB.

I fear that we do not have the same facility with Bolsonaro, ”insisted Lula.

Experts fear violent incidents, like the storming of the Capitol

Jair Bolsonaro has multiplied the attacks against the system of electronic ballot boxes in force in Brazil since 1996, with which he was however elected several times deputy, then president hands down in 2018.

He notably mentioned "fraud" - without ever providing proof -, fueling fears that he would not recognize the result in the event of defeat.

“The results of the polls will be respected provided that the elections are clean and transparent,” declared the far-right president during his campaign.

With the exponential increase in gun licenses under President Bolsonaro, experts fear violent incidents, such as the invasion of the Capitol in Washington after the defeat of Donald Trump in the US presidential election in January 2021.


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  • Lula

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  • Capitol Assault