WASHINGTON – The President of the United States, Joe Biden, tonight congratulated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for his victory in the presidential elections in Brazil, which have been, he said, “free, fair and reliable”.
“I send my congratulations to Luis Inácio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil in these free, fair and reliable elections. I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation of the two countries in the coming months and years,” Biden said in this message.
With this statement issued shortly after Lula’s victory was announced, the United States wanted to legitimize the result of the Brazilian elections. The Workers’ Party candidate and former Brazilian president has defeated the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, by a narrow margin.
Already last Friday, the United States said it trusted that this second round would be reliable and transparent despite the doubts that Bolsonaro could sow about the process.
State Department spokesman Ned Price, affirmed in a telephone press conference on Friday that the first round of Oct. 2 Udder “was carried out with reliability and transparency,” and assured that the United States and the rest of the world “have every confidence that the second round will be conducted in the same way.”
“We support the right of the Brazilian people to elect their next leader and we trust in the ability of the authorities to conduct the second round with the same professionalism, in a peaceful manner and with civic duty”, Price then said.