The Executive of Brazil has firmly rejected the latest statements from the Argentine president, Javier Milei, considering them an "unacceptable attempt at external interference" in the political life of the country. The criticisms from the Argentine leader, who has called into question the transparency of the Brazilian electronic voting system just days before the elections, have opened a new diplomatic front between both Governments.
The origin of the conflict lies in a message disseminated by Milei on his social networks, in which he lashes out at the outgoing president and candidate for reelection, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whom he labels a "progressive macho" after statements from the Brazilian leader regarding the recent reduction of the weekly working hours in Brazil. "We cannot continue with a labor regime in which people work six days and rest only one. And, in the case of women, the day they stay at home is, in reality, the day they work the most, because they have to clean the house for the whole week," said Lula.
Immediately afterward, the head of the Argentine State raised the tone and issued a warning about the Brazilian elections scheduled for October 25: "I hope that your last dirty campaign trick does not include stealing the election... leftist thief." These words, interpreted in Brazil as a direct questioning of the integrity of the electoral process, have provoked an outraged institutional reaction.
In response, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made public a statement denouncing that these "offenses," directed both at the Judiciary and the voting system, represent an "antidemocratic manifestation" and behavior that "is unbalanced and does not align with the posture that the head of State of a friendly country should have."
The note from Brazilian diplomacy reproaches Milei that his accusations only serve to "reiterate lies spread by those who lost the elections and were involved in the failed military coup four years ago," in clear reference to sectors close to former president Jair Bolsonaro, who already questioned without evidence the reliability of the electronic ballots.
In the face of this scenario, the Brazilian government has firmly defended its electronic voting system, emphasizing that "it has proven to be secure and has never recorded irregularities," a point that, the Ministry insists, has been endorsed by the international electoral observers present during the first round of the elections.
The statement concludes by emphasizing that "the decision about the future of Brazil corresponds exclusively to the Brazilian people, who will express themselves freely at the polls, without any kind of external interference, on Sunday the 25th," making it clear that it will not accept external questioning about the legitimacy of its democratic process.