Flavio Bolsonaro contests Brazil runoff result, citing 2-hour voting extension he also requested

Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro signaled he would not accept defeat after losing Brazil's presidential runoff to incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 81, on Sunday (local time).

According to AP and AFP, Bolsonaro said he could not accept the results and would seek to have the election annulled. He cited the two-hour extension of the runoff's closing time — granted after public transportation disruptions left some voters unable to reach polling stations — as grounds for invalidation.

Brazil's Supreme Court extended the voting deadline from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. after accepting an injunction filed by the Lula camp, which argued that some local governments had deliberately reduced public transit services to suppress voter turnout and asked that voting hours be extended accordingly.

Bolsonaro's own camp had made a similar request. His team argued that severe weather — including heavy rain and strong winds — in three states including São Paulo had prevented voters from fully exercising their right to vote and asked for an extension. His camp, however, had sought a more limited extension covering only certain areas.

When the extended voting concluded, Lula emerged the winner. According to Brazil's Superior Electoral Court, which oversees elections, Lula won with 51.8 percent of the vote, defeating Bolsonaro by about 4.4 million votes. It marked the first time in modern Brazilian history that a president had been elected to a fourth term.

After the result was announced, Bolsonaro argued that extending voting hours was an unprecedented measure and said he could not accept an election outcome produced under such conditions.