Brazilians Gather In Green And Yellow Shirts To Protest Against Jair Bolsonaro’s Defeat

Challenges continue to mount for Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as he comes into office, with supporters of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro continuing their protests against his defeat and that the previous election was fraudulent.

Thousands are still flocking to military bases in the country, including the one in Rio de Janeiro, to continue to push the military to intervene against Bolsonaro’s defeat at the recent election. His supporters, wearing green and yellow shirts to represent the country’s flag, claimed that the election was mired in fraud and refused to accept Lula’s slim 50.9% win as valid, according to the Associated Press.

Some protestors have expressed distrust at the results, with one claiming as evidence the 100 ballot boxes in the country – or less than .02% of the 500,000 overall ballot boxes in the country – had 100% votes for a single candidate, with many leaning towards Lula.

A recent investigation by the Ministry of Defense in Brazil has shown that while the electoral system could use some improvements, there is no evidence of fraud to be found in the recent elections. Despite this reassurance, however, many of Bolsonaro’s supporters continue their crusade to keep the outgoing President in office.

This ongoing unpopularity and suspicion of Lula’s election is reportedly worrying many of his supporters as well as analysts and politicians in Brazil, many of whom believe that Lula is entering his second Presidency in a much-weaker state than his first due to the current economic downturn as well as people’s mistrust in him due to past corruption convictions, the New York Times reported.

Many analysts are weary about Lula’s plans to increase government spending on Brazil’s social welfare program, largely due to the weakened global economic state his administration is facing. His lack of support from Bolsonaro’s party, which holds 99 representatives in the House, will also reportedly be a barrier in increasing the spending limit.

“There will be no peace if you try to isolate 99 federal representatives. This doesn’t happen,” Valdemar Costa Neto, the party’s chief, said.

Still, some are optimistic about Lula’s environmental policies, which will serve as a reversal from Bolsonaro’s willingness to allow private corporations to cut down larger portions of the Amazon rainforest for profit. And many will wait and see to know how effective Lula’s policies will be in the country.