Brazil armed forces’ report on election finds no fraud

By DIANE JEANTET and CARLA BRIDI
Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s defense ministry has released a report highlighting flaws in electoral systems and proposing improvements. But it contains nothing to substantiate claims of fraud from some of President Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters protesting his Oct. 30 defeat. The report released Wednesday is the first comment by the military on the runoff election, which has drawn protests nationwide even as the transition has begun for President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s inauguration Jan. 1. Bolsonaro supporters have gathered outside military installations across Brazil calling for intervention by the armed forces to keep him in office. Bolsonaro’s less than two-point loss was the narrowest margin since Brazil’s 1985 return to democracy, but he hasn’t cried foul in the election.