Brazil: Bolsonaro's party calls for annulment of elections won by Lula

The Liberal Party (PL), which supported Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's candidacy for reelection, asked electoral authorities on Tuesday to annul the results of the recent election won by leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, reported Brazilian newspaper O Antagonista.

The PL filed a lawsuit with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE for its acronym in Spanish) asking to "annul" the results of the electronic ballot boxes of older models, which make up more than half of the boxes because it considers them impossible to audit.

An audit commissioned by the PL pointed out that Bolsonaro received the most votes in the newer models of the ballot boxes, manufactured from 2020 onwards, with 51.05% of the votes.

The Technical Report on the Malfunctioning of Electronic Ballot Boxes points out as "serious and irremediable" the inconsistencies in the operation of a part of the electronic voting machines used in 2022, according to the lawsuit document cited by O Antagonista.

The PL's request comes after an audit of the voting system was carried out by the military, which did not "rule out the possibility of fraud or inconsistency in the electronic voting machines and the 2022 electoral process."

However, other reports warn that the results of the election were endorsed by several watchdogs. Therefore, the victory of Lula da Silva could remain unchallenged. Additionally, Lula has already been recognized by the heads of state of Europe, China, and the United States, as well as by the presidents of the House and Senate.

Following the October 30 presidential elections, Truck drivers, businessmen, and traders took over Brazil's main highways in protest of Lula's victory over Bolsonaro by a narrow margin of 1.8 percentage points.

Thousands of demonstrators also rallied in front of the main Brazilian army barracks and demanded that the armed forces "save Brazil" from the clutches of "communism."