‘IT IS OVER’

Thousands of Bolsonaro Supporters Urge Military to Keep Him in Office

His defenders gathered outside the Eastern Military Command in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.

Thousands of supporters of far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro protested in the rain outside the Eastern Military Command in Rio de Janeiro, with some chanting “Armed forces, save Brazil!” and “United, the people will never be defeated!” They hoped to convince the army to step in and keep him in power Wednesday—despite leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s win on Sunday. The military has kept mum on the election, moving away from Bolsonaro, according to experts interviewed by the Associated Press. “In a democracy, the armed forces do not have a say in the electoral process,” Brazilian Association for Defense Studies President Eduardo Munhoz Svartman told AP .“This silence is desirable.” In a speech two days after his loss, Bolsonaro spoke for almost two minutes on Tuesday saying he’d continue to follow the constitution but he didn’t concede and backed “peaceful” protests, according to AP. However, after the speech, his chief of staff told reporters the president had given Lula the go-ahead to start the transfer of power process, AP reported. Later that day, Bolsonaro told Brazil’s Supreme Court members his “election battle against da Silva had come to an end,” AP reported. Supreme Court Justice Luiz Edson Fachin met with Bolsonaro privately and then said in a video that the president told him, “It is over. So, let’s look ahead.”