MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula, Alckmin given their diplomas by TSE

TSE's Chief Alexandre De Moraes certified Lula's victory

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) Monday gave Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Geraldo Alckmin their credentials as President- and Vice President-elect, thus making their Oct. 30 win official.

In the runoff, they had beaten the ticket of incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro and his running mate, General Walter Braga Neto.

Lula, 77, thus completed the last step before his Jan. 1 inauguration. It will be Lula's third constitutional presidency after ruling for two consecutive terms between 2003 and 2010.

In the meantime, supporters of Bolsonaro have been camping for over a month in front of Army barracks in demand of a military coup d'état claiming that the elections had been rigged.

In Monday's ceremony, the TSE also officially certified the electoral results as per a procedure established in 1951, although it was suspended during the military dictatorship (1964-1985).

According to the TSE, Lula won the runoff with 50.9% of the votes, against Bolsonaro's 49.1%. The incumbent head of state has never congratulated Lula or admitted he was defeated, while the Liberal Party (PL) asked the TSE on Nov. 22 to annul the elections' results citing failures of the older models of the electronic ballot boxes, a petition which has been rejected by TSE Chief Justice Alexandre De Moraes, who also fined the political alliance for acting in bad faith. Bolsonaro had long questioned the electronic ballot boxes in use in Brazil since 1996.