The military sent the 63-page report to Brazil’s electoral authorities late Wednesday after days of speculation that it would support extremist President Jair Bolsonaro’s claims that the election was tainted. Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has spent months implying that he would not accept a defeat at the polls and has often questioned the reliability of Brazil’s electronic ballots, despite not providing evidence that they could be hacked. Its supporters had hoped the military would back up those claims, but the only doubt was a weak proposal to set up a committee to ensure the source code used in the boxes could not be hacked. Brazil’s top election official said they “received with satisfaction the final report from the Ministry of Defense which, like all other monitoring services, does not point to any fraud or inconsistency in the electronic ballots or the 2022 election process.” Alexandre Moraes, the supreme court judge who heads the electoral court, said “Proposals on ways to perfect the system will be analyzed.” The Defense Ministry report was published a day after the Brazilian Bar Association said it found no reports of anything unusual during the two votes for president, governors, Congress and state legislatures in 27 states. Their report said it found evidence “the electoral justice system maintained equity and security.” “Brazil was stolen”: Bolsonaro’s supporters who refuse to accept the election result – video Bolsonaro lost the Oct. 30 runoff election to his rival Lula by 50.9% to 49.1%, the narrowest margin of victory since the end of Brazil’s right-wing dictatorship in 1985. But Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat and hid from view after the vote, appearing only once two days after the vote to ask his supporters to call off protests that blocked highways and roads across the country. Although the most disruptive demonstrations were broken up by law enforcement, Bolsonaro hardliners continued to appear in front of military barracks calling for the military to take power. Lula, meanwhile, is working on the transition ahead of his January 1 inauguration. He spent the day in Brasilia meeting political leaders and praised the electronic voting machines that Brazil has used without problems since 1996. “The electronic lists are a triumph for the Brazilian people,” Lula said. “I think many countries around the world envy Brazil for the smoothness of the process here.” Lula’s comments came as the count continues in key races after Tuesday’s midterm elections. Voting is compulsory in Brazil, and the nearly 120 million votes are usually counted within three or four hours of the polls closing.
