Flavio Bolsonaro in US first claims to be Brazil's president-elect, then its leader

Bolsonaro and his family arrived in Miami on Wednesday after obtaining US visas. His departure came after he refused to comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court order requiring him to surrender his passport.

In Short

• Flavio Bolsonaro claims to be Brazil's rightful leader after election loss
• He alleges an electoral coup by Lula and Supreme Court without evidence
• He secretly left Brazil for US after election loss, denies fleeing

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who arrived in the United States on Wednesday after losing Brazil’s presidential election, has declared himself the country’s rightful leader, alleging that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the Supreme Court orchestrated an “electoral coup d'etat”.

Bolsonaro initially declared himself “the elected president” in an open letter posted on X. He later deleted that version and published a revised letter, in which he described himself as Brazil’s rightful “leader”.

“I want to say, not only to my 60 million voters but to the Brazilian people, that I am the leader and that the criminals who stole Brazil’s election are part of a criminal organization that has established a tyranny,” he said in the updated version.

Bolsonaro lost Sunday's presidential election to Lula by around 4.5 million votes. He travelled to Miami with his family, thanking US President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei for helping him leave Brazil and welcoming him to their countries.

TRUMP CALLS ELECTION 'VERY STRANGE'

Asked by reporters at Joint Base Andrews about Bolsonaro’s allegations, Trump declined to comment directly, reiterating his earlier view that it was “a very strange election”.

Bolsonaro’s statements come as Washington navigates strained relations with Brazil, Latin America’s largest country and home to the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earths.

Lula has accused Washington of colluding with the Bolsonaro family to help them return to power. Ahead of Sunday's election, Reuters reported on a US State Department campaign to restore the Bolsonaros to office.

Washington has denied attempting to interfere in Brazil’s domestic affairs. Trump has previously alleged that Flavio’s father, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, was a victim of judicial persecution.

Jair Bolsonaro travelled to the United States after refusing to concede defeat to Lula in 2022. He later returned to Brazil and was sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup after his supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia.

Lula, who was himself jailed on corruption charges that were later overturned, said this week that it was “shameful” that Bolsonaro had not remained in Brazil to prove his innocence.

BOLSONARO DENIES FLEEING BRAZIL

Bolsonaro and his family arrived in Miami on Wednesday after leaving Brazil under a shroud of secrecy. His departure came after he refused to comply with a Supreme Court order requiring him to surrender his passports.

The order is linked to a money-laundering investigation in which Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing. He has accused Lula and the Supreme Court of pursuing a political witch hunt against him and his family.

In his letter, Bolsonaro rejected the suggestion that he had fled the country.

“I want to make this clear: I did not flee Brazil,” he said. “I left Brazil, but I did not abandon the Brazilian people.”

NO EVIDENCE OF ELECTION FRAUD

Bolsonaro did not provide evidence to support his allegations of electoral fraud. International observers have found Sunday's vote to be fair.

He based his challenge to the result on a decision by a Supreme Court justice appointed by Lula to extend voting by two hours. The move followed allegations by Lula’s campaign that voters were being suppressed in left-leaning northeastern states.

However, Bolsonaro’s campaign had also sought an extension of voting hours because of rainfall in conservative-leaning southern states.

Bolsonaro lost to Lula by around 4.5 million votes. Fewer than 35,000 votes — about 0.03 per cent of the total — were cast during the additional two hours of voting ordered by the Supreme Court, according to an analysis by Pedro Burgos, a professor at Insper.

Analysts said the scale of Bolsonaro’s defeat — more than twice his father’s losing margin — and his campaign’s own request for extended voting in the conservative south made an annulment of the election unlikely.

- Ends
With inputs from Reuters