Brazil’s Bolsonaro signals cooperation with transfer of power, but does not concede election defeat
As Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, said the transfer of power would take priority — and not an early election, as his leftist opponent, Fernando Haddad, had threatened — his rhetoric suggested a less belligerent approach to the political crisis.
“We are not going to go to that stage,” he said on Wednesday during a news conference in Brasilia while reiterating that he would not accept defeat. “This stage is for the party of the people.”
In his first televised interview since losing the election on Sunday, Mr Bolsonaro said he was prepared to negotiate with Haddad, whom he called “an idiot” in reference to the left-wing politician’s public remarks, but added, “It’s just that we’re not going to send him back to the past.”
Mr Haddad, campaigning for a third term, had said he would not be “cowed” by Bolsonaro’s “aggressive discourse”, and called him a “terrorist” and a “fascist” during an attack in which he called him “the worst candidate in recent Brazilian history”.
“This is a party of the people, and I’m proud of it because we have shown the world that Brazil is not a fascist country,” Mr Bolsonaro said.
“I’m not going to negotiate with terrorists.”
A day after the election, he declared that “the government is not finished”, adding that he would be willing to cooperate with Mr Haddad on a number of issues, and that he would like for him to “give up” on his campaign promise to push through the impeachment of the previous president, Dilma Rousseff, whom he accused of mismanaging the economy.
Bolsonaro vented his frustration to the BBC, calling Haddad an “idiot” and saying all Brazilians want to “live in peace”.
‘No concessions’ on impeachment
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On Saturday, Mr Bolsonaro and his vice-president, Hamilton Mourao, gave their backing to a plan by the country’s chief prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot
