(Reuters) – Brazil has a strong track record of free, fair and transparent elections and the United Sates trusts that its electoral system will reflect the will of the people in the October election, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The endorsement came one day after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro questioned the country’s electronic voting system in a briefing to foreign diplomats.
Bolsonaro told some 40 members of the diplomatic corps in Brasilia that the voting system was vulnerable to fraud, an allegation he has repeatedly made to cast doubt on the October election in which he will seek re-election.
The unprecedented briefing three months before a general election was attended by envoys of the United States, the European Union, France, Spain, Portugal and other nations.
The U.S. State Department said Brazilians are deeply committed to their democratic institutions.
“Elections conducted by Brazil’s capable and time-tested electoral system and democratic institutions serve as a model for nations in the hemisphere and the world,” the spokesperson said.
It was not the first time U.S. officials have expressed confidence in Brazil’s voting system. In May, Reuters reported that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns told senior Brazilian officials that Bolsonaro should stop casting doubt on their country’s voting system.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
