Late Tuesday night, after indirectly admit his defeat, the still Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro put one more nail in his political coffin by telling the Federal Supreme Court that the electoral process had concluded. In other words, he does not intend to challenge the victory of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his staunch rival.
Leaving the meeting, Judge Edson Fachin said that Bolsonaro “used the verb to finish in the past tense. He said ‘it’s over’. So the matter is over.” Fachin was the only one of the seven members of the high court who commented on the meeting with the president.
The meeting took place in a peaceful and friendly atmosphere, said sources from the judiciary heard by CNN/Brazil. According to these accounts, Bolsonaro was friendly and relaxed during the meeting, which lasted about an hour.
Bolsonaro told the judges that he recognizes the result and that he will comply with the federal Constitution. There was no express, detailed commitment that the president will not appeal, within the limits of the law, the result. But Fachin said that he was understood.
In a statement, the judges stressed the importance of recognition by the President of the Republic of the final result of the elections, with the determination to start the transition process this Thursday.
“It was an institutional visit in a cordial and respectful atmosphere, in which everyone highlighted the importance of peace and harmony for the good of Brazil,” added the note, quoted by the newspaper State of São Paulo.
Another relevant issue for the future of the president is his legal status, since he became “unemployed” (he was not running for Congress or the Senate), but it was not addressed at the meeting.
Bolsonaro is the subject of several lawsuits pending in the Supreme Court. Once he leaves the presidency, he will see how these investigations are sent to the first instance of justice, as happened with Lula da Silva.
