Flavio Bolsonaro, who lost Brazil's presidential runoff to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has addressed the nation "as the leader of Brazil", alleged electoral fraud and said he will direct the opposition from the United States.
The open letter, dated October 28, was posted on X.
Lula won the October 25 runoff with 51.79% of valid votes to Bolsonaro's 48.21%, according to the final count of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). Bolsonaro, a senator, had led the first round with about 47% against Lula's 45%.
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In the letter, Bolsonaro says he watched in shock as "electoral fraud unfolded before my very eyes". He claims Lula gained "more than 10 million additional votes" between the two rounds, which he calls "a mathematical impossibility".
He also alleges that the Supreme Federal Court (STF) extended voting after the legal closing time. He says the TSE has offered no "credible explanation".
Bolsonaro says he has taken his family to the US, thanking President Donald Trump and Argentina's President Javier Milei.
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"I did not flee Brazil; I left for the sake of Brazil," he writes, adding that there is no arrest warrant against him. He describes the proceedings he faces as "a politically motivated witch hunt". He likens his exile to those of Charles de Gaulle, Jose Marti and Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado.
He says his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is "silenced, imprisoned, and censored". Jair Bolsonaro and several allies were convicted by a Supreme Court panel of attempting to overthrow Brazil's democratic system after his 2022 defeat.
"I will lead the opposition from here," Bolsonaro writes, telling lawmakers and governors he will say what they cannot. He names Rogerio Marinho, his candidate for Senate president. To the international community, he appeals: "do not normalize what is happening in Brazil."
ALSO READ | Brazil's Lula Returns To Power With Record Fourth Term, Beats Bolsonaro Heir
The final page of the letter promises regular addresses and a strategy to mobilise supporters "by all peaceful and legitimate means", in a translation from the Portuguese.
He writes that the struggle did not end on October 25 and will end only when Brazil is again "a free country".
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