Western leaders rushed to recognise Bolsonaro's defeat in Brazil to head off any Trump-like attempt to stay in power, experts say

• World leaders swiftly backed Brazil's president-elect on his election victory over Jair Bolsonaro.
• President Joe Biden and others described the contest as "free" and "fair."

Leaders rushed to congratulate Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, for his victory in the presidential election there.

It came in the wake of the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, fighting a campaign suggesting he would seek to undermine the vote.

US President Joe Biden in a statement emphasised that Lula won "following free, fair, and credible elections."

"I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead," he said in a statement a few hours after election officials declared da Silva the victor.

Other leaders from prominent democracies also congratulated da Silva, who was declared winner Sunday night in the close-fought second round of the Brazilian election on Sunday with less than a 1% lead over Bolsonaro.

"The people of Brazil have spoken," said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, writing within an hour and a half of the result.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphasized "promoting democratic values" in a message posted first thing in the morning local time.

A statement from the European Union released Monday focused heavily on the integrity of the vote, praising Brazil for the "effective and transparent manner it conducted its constitutional mandate throughout all stages of the electoral process, demonstrating once again the strength of Brazil's institutions and its democracy. "

The messages came even though Bolsonaro had not conceded defeat (and still had not as of 9 a.m. local time on Monday).

Analysts said the rush to congratulate da Silva was likely part of a coordinated campaign to head off attempts by Bolsonaro to question the election.

"The minute Lula's victory is confirmed, Western leaders can be expected to recognize the result immediately to increase pressure on Bolsonaro to accept defeat," international relations expert Oliver Stuenkal had tweeted just before his victory was announced.

Sean Tandoon, the State Department correspondent at the AFP, described the statements as a "coordinated international campaign to preempt any Bolsonaro mischief."

For months, Bolsonaro has pushed baseless claims that the election, which many observers expected him to lose, was tainted by fraud.

Ahead of the election his son, Flávio Bolsonaro, a senator, claimed that his father was the victim of "the greatest electoral fraud ever seen."

Bolsonaro's allies so far seem to have accepted the result, in which da Silva was declared the winner with 50.9% of the vote, The New York Times reported.

Bolsonaro's bid to undermine faith in the elections echoed tactics used by former President Donald Trump, who has pushed conspiracy theories about his defeat in the 2020 election.

Both pushed bogus claims that machines used to tally votes had been compromised. Bolsonaro has even been dubbed the "Trump of the tropics" because of the similarities between their brands of populist, far-right politics.

Trump endorsed Bolsonaro multiple times ahead of the election, including in a video Bolsonaro posted less than 24 hours before he lost.

The victory is a stunning comeback for da Silva, a two-time former president who in 2018 was imprisoned over a corruption scandal, though the conviction was later annulled.