US election: Brazil’s Bolsonaro holds back on recognizing Biden’s victory

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro — who sometimes has embraced the label “Trump of the Tropics” — said Sunday he’ll wait a little longer before recognizing the US election victory of Joe Biden.

Speaking to reporters while casting a ballot in municipal races, he also echoed President Donald Trump’s allegations of irregularities in the US vote.

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“I have my sources of information that there really was a lot of fraud there,” he said. “Nobody talks about that. If it was enough to define (victory) for one or the other, I don’t know.”

Asked if he would recognize Biden’s victory, he said, “I am holding back a little more.”

He also expressed doubts about Brazil’s current electronic voting system, which he has suggested is vulnerable to fraud. He has urged the country to go back to a paper ballot system for the 2022 presidential election.

The conservative Brazilian leader has appealed to the same sort of right-wing populist base in Brazil that Trump has courted in the US, and has welcomed comparisons to the US president.

Like Trump, he has embraced unproven treatements for the new coronavirus and has campaigned to ease restrictions meant to combat it, arguing the economic loss is more damaging than the illness itself.

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