More than a day after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was declared the winner of Brazil’s 2022 presidential election, incumbent Jair Bolsonaro has yet to publicly acknowledge defeat.   

  The President’s delay in conceding Sunday’s race has fueled fears that he will not cooperate with the transfer of power, amid scattered protests from his supporters.  Before the vote, Bolsonaro and some of his allies had made unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud and unfair treatment by the press.   

  “Anywhere else in the world, the president who lost would have called me by now and conceded,” Lula da Silva told supporters on Sunday night, explaining that he was “partly happy, partly worried” about transfer of power.   

  “He still hasn’t called, I don’t know if he will and I don’t know if he will concede,” he said.   

  But public concession or not, experts say it’s already out of the outgoing President’s hands.   

  It is the Supreme Electoral Court of Brazil that officially validates the election results and communicates them to the Senate, House of Representatives and State Assemblies.   

  An Electoral Court press officer told CNN that the results of the vote are already considered validated, after the court declared the result on Sunday.  A court hearing at a later point will formally confirm the victory, but a date for that has not yet been set, he said.   

  Electoral Court President Alexandre de Moraes personally called both Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro on Sunday to inform them of the results and congratulate them on their participation in the democratic process, according to a press release from the Court.   

  De Moraes also said he does not see much scope for the election.  “The result has been announced, it has been accepted and those elected will assume their duties on January 1,” he said in the release.   

  Brazilian Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco has already publicly congratulated Lula da Silva and his supporters, as has House of Representatives Speaker Arthur Lira – a close Bolsonaro ally.   

  Foreign leaders from around the world also immediately expressed their support for Lula da Silva’s victory.   

  “I send my congratulations to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his election as the next president of Brazil after a free, fair and credible election,” US President Joe Biden said after Sunday’s vote.   

  And Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his congratulations in a message carried by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, adding: “The results of the vote confirm your high political authority.”   

  The President-elect’s diplomatic work is already underway, with Lula da Silva meeting Argentine President Alberto Fernandez – one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate him – in Sao Paulo on Monday.   

  At least twice in the past, Brazil’s leaders have refused to participate in the transfer of power.   

  At the beginning of the Brazilian republic in the late 19th century, Marshal Floriano Peixoto did not attend the inauguration of his successor, Prudente de Moraes.   

  And almost a century later, the last of the unelected military presidents, João Batista Figueiredo, snubbed the inauguration of his successor José Sarney.   

  In both cases, the boycott was largely symbolic.  The same would be true if Bolsonaro refused to cede the presidency in a public statement, according to legal expert Augusto de Arruda Botelho.   

  “The non-recognition of the result is a non-starter from a political point of view, because at the end of the day, the Electoral Tribunal is the one that hands over power to the winner of the election,” he told CNN.   

  “[Bolsonaro] he can kick and scream all he wants,” he added.   

  Moreover, it is in Bolsonaro’s political interest to appear to be a good sport, political scientist Camila Rocha told CNN.   

  Rocha’s research shows that denying the concession would be damaging to Bolsonaro’s public image among his supporters.  “Even the most extreme supporters of Bolsonaro, like those I interviewed last year in Santa Catarina for my research, say that if Bolsonaro lost he would have to accept the result,” he told CNN.   

  “So it is very clear that if Bolsonaro refuses to accept Lula’s victory, it could have a negative impact even on his supporters.  He would definitely be perceived as a bad loser.”   

  But since Sunday afternoon, pro-Bolsonaro truck drivers and other supporters have blocked roads and highways, causing long delays and disruption in at least 19 states across the country, according to CNN Brasil.   


  A CNN crew reported that access to Sao Paulo International Airport was cut off as about 100 protesters blocked a highway leading to the airport.  Some people had left their taxis and started walking along the side of the freeway to get to the terminal, the crew said.  Very few cars had stopped outside the airport’s Terminal 3, suggesting most cars were caught in the blockade.   

  Sao Paulo International Airport advised passengers to check their flight status in a tweet noting that access to the airport’s terminals may be difficult due to the protest.  Some flights have been delayed, according to an airline agent who spoke to CNN.  The airline’s pilots and crew were unable to reach the airport because the blockade is causing significant delays at the airport, the agent told CNN.   

  Some police officers on the road leading to the airport told CNN they were afraid of upsetting the protesters and were trying to avoid confrontation.   

  Several protesters have made it clear that they do not believe the election result.   

  “We have a President who won the polls and they cheated the polls and put the other candidate in front and we are against that,” said Luis Vallejo, a Bolsonaro supporter.   

  Another, Jurandir Santos, said that even if Bolsonaro accepts the results, “the people will not accept it.”   

  In the first public comments by any member of Bolsonaro’s inner circle since his election defeat, Bolsonaro’s son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, took to Twitter on Monday afternoon to thank his father’s supporters and urged them to “not give up ».   

  “Thank you to everyone who helped us save patriotism, who prayed, prayed, took to the streets, gave their sweat for the country that works and gave Bolsonaro the biggest vote of his life!  Let’s raise our heads and not abandon our Brazil!”  He wrote.   

  “God is in charge!”  he added.