Flavio Bolsonaro, from US, declares himself rightful president-elect of Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro on Oct 28 declared himself the rightful president-elect of Brazil, saying his victory had been denied by an electoral coup d’etat by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the country’s Supreme Court.Bolsonaro, who lost the Oct 25 presidential election and left Brazil for Miami where he and his family received US visas, thanked US President Donald Trump and Argentine leader Javier Milei for helping him leave his home country and for welcoming him.“I want to say, not only to my 60 million voters but to the Brazilian people, that I am the elected president and that the criminals who stole Brazil’s election are part of a criminal organisation that has established a tyranny,” he said in an open letter shared with journalists by his allies.Bolsonaro did not provide evidence for the alleged electoral fraud.International observers have found the voting on Oct 25 was fair.Bolsonaro and his family arrived in Miami on Oct 28, leaving Brazil after he refused to comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court order to surrender his passports. He left under a shroud of secrecy after the court order, which relates to a money-laundering investigation in which he denies wrongdoing. REUTERS