SAO PAULO — A leading Brazilian presidential candidate said Friday his opponents can only win by fraud and he will only accept the results of October’s elections as legitimate if he wins.
Far-right hopeful and retired army captain Jair Bolsonaro did not provide any evidence that there will be vote fraud, but he said he doesn’t trust Brazil’s top electoral court.
“From what I see in the streets, I won’t accept any result that is not my election,” the candidate told TV Band.
Bolsonaro, who was hospitalized on Sept. 6 after being stabbed at a campaign event, leads polls ahead of the Oct. 7 vote, but is likely to face a tougher campaign in a Oct. 28 runoff against any other candidate.
He has accused the rival Workers’ Party of having fraud as its plan B in the elections.
Several recent polls suggest Bolsonaro would lose a runoff vote to former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad, who is currently second in the race.
Bolsonaro’s comments about vote fraud have been rejected by Brazil’s electoral court and the Organization of American States, which is overseeing the elections.
Bolsonaro was expected to be released from hospital on Friday, but his departure was delayed because of fever and a minor infection.
Instead, he spent most of his day denying a report in the magazine Veja in which an ex-wife accused him of fraud, tax evasion and stealing money she kept in a bank safe in Rio de Janeiro. His campaign pledged to take the magazine to court because of the report.
Bolsonaro’s ex-wife Ana Cristina Valle said she was “hot headed” when she made the accusations. She is currently running for Congress using her ex-husband’s surname.