Brazil vice president Mourão admits Bolsonaro lost election

Buenos Aires: Three days after Brazil’s presidential election runoff, Vice President Hamilton Mourão has admitted that incumbent Jair Bolsonaro lost.

“There is no sense in whining anymore – we lost the game. There is nothing to complain about,” O Globo newspaper quoted the former military general as saying on Wednesday.

Mourão said he believed there was no electoral fraud. Bolsonaro was narrowly defeated by left-wing challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday. Lula received 50.9% of the vote while Bolsonaro garnered 49.1%.

In his first public statement since the election on Tuesday, Bolsonaro did not concede defeat or congratulate Lula on his victory. Rather, he once again cast doubt on the electoral system and expressed understanding for his supporters who blocked numerous highways across the country in protest against Lula’s victory.