MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro will respect the elections' outcome provided they are clean

Bolsonaro insisted his supporters were entitled to “freedom of expression” so they cannot be banned from insulting judges or calling for a military intervention

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said Monday evening in a TV interview that he will accept the election's outcome provided they are clear, and warned he was being pressured into becoming a dictator.

  The former Army captain once again questioned the trustworthiness of the electronic voting system, which only fueled fears that he might disavow the results in case of losing to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is ahead in all polls.

“The results of the ballot boxes will be respected as long as the elections are clean and transparent,” said Bolsonaro on O Globo's Jornal Nacional show, an uncommon appearance of the head of state who usually prefers small stations over giant media outlets nationwide.

Bolsonaro also insisted that in the 2018 elections he would have won in the first round if there had only been more transparency.

Regarding his relationship with Superior Electoral Court (TSE) Chief Justice and Superior Electoral Court and Supreme Federal Court (STF) magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, Bolsonaro said it was now more peaceful after bitter exchanges in the past.

Bolsonaro also insisted he made no mistakes in the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic even after dubbing the malady “a little flu.” Some 680,000 people have died of the disease nationwide.

Asked about why he formed an alliance with the group of parties known as “Centrao,” which he had accused of being a group of “thieves” during the 2018 election campaign, Bolsonaro replied that Centrao accounted for ”300 deputies (out of a total of 513).“

”If I leave Centrao aside, with whom am I going to govern? Am I going to leave Parliament aside? So, are you encouraging me to be a dictator?“

”The result of the polls will be respected as long as the elections are clean and transparent. You say that the (electronic) ballot boxes are auditable, but in 2014 they were not,“ Bolsonaro stressed.

He added his supporters were entitled to ”freedom of expression“ so they cannot be banned from insulting judges or calling for a military intervention, which is likely to happen during the Independence Day Sept. 7 celebrations.

The head of state was seen to have four words written on the palm of his left hand: ”Nicaragua“, ”Argentina“, ”Colombia“ and ”Dario Messer”, a financier convicted in the anti-corruption operation Lava Jato. None of the topics were addressed.

Lula is due at the same show next Thursday. He leads the electoral race with 47% of voting intention against 32% of Bolsonaro, according to a Datafolha Institute poll published last Thursday.