Presidential elections

Far - right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Brazil's presidential election

Brazil's Supreme Electoral ____________________ has declared ____________________ - right congressman Jair Bolsonaro the next president of Latin America's ____________________ country .

With 96 percent of ballots ____________________ , Bolsonaro has 55 . 5 percent of the votes . Leftist Fernando Haddad of the Workers' Party ( PT ) has 44 . 5 percent .

Voters in Sunday's runoff election apparently looked past warnings that the brash former army ____________________ would erode ____________________ and embraced a chance for radical ____________________ after years of turmoil .

Bolsonaro pledged to ____________________ government finances and reorient diplomatic ____________________ in his first public comments on Sunday after winning the polarizing run - off vote .

Bolsonaro said he would begin a virtuous ____________________ of lower deficits , shrinking public ____________________ and lower ____________________ rates . He also pledged to align Brazil with more ____________________ countries that can offer the ____________________ of trade and technology , reversing what he called a recent political bias in ____________________ relations .

His rise has been propelled by ____________________ of the leftist PT that ran Brazil for 13 of the last 15 years and was ousted two years ____________________ in the midst of a deep recession and political graft ____________________ .

Laura Chinchilla , the former president of Costa Rica who is head of the Organization of American States' Electoral Observation Mission , said the ____________________ had been calm and orderly across the country , which has suffered a spate of partisan ____________________ during the campaign .

Many Brazilians are concerned that Bolsonaro , an admirer of Brazil's 1964 - 1985 ____________________ dictatorship and a defender of its use of ____________________ on leftist opponents , will trample on human rights , curtail civil liberties and muzzle ____________________ of speech .

The 63 - year - old seven - term congressman has vowed to crack down on ____________________ in Brazil's cities and farm belt by granting police more autonomy to shoot at ____________________ . He also wants to let more Brazilians buy weapons to ____________________ crime .

His leftist rival Haddad , standing in for the jailed PT ____________________ and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva , had been trailing Bolsonaro since the first - round vote three weeks ago .

The last round of opinion ____________________ on Saturday had showed Haddad narrowing a wide polling gap . Endorsements from leading legal figures in Brazil's unprecedented fight against political ____________________ also raised hopes among Haddad supporters that he ____________________ pull off what would be a stunning upset .

Haddad had reduced Bolsonaro's lead from 12 to 8 percentage points in five days , ____________________ to the Ibope polling firm that gave him 46 percent of voter support ____________________ with Bolsonaro's 54 percent . A Datafolha poll also released late Saturday ____________________ Bolsonaro had 55 percent and Haddad 45 percent .

While Haddad had gained traction in the polls , he failed to ____________________ the key endorsement of center - left former candidate Ciro Gomes , a former governor of Ceará state in the northeast , which would have given him a big lift in Brazil's poorest ____________________ .

University student Daniel Castro Correa de Souza , who voted for Gomes in the first round , opted for Haddad ____________________ Sunday in an effort to stop Bolsonaro .

" Bolsonaro ____________________ a rupture in democracy , a threat to democracy , because he has ____________________ thoughts . I can't ____________________ with that , " said 21 - year - old Souza , after casting his vote in Brasilia .

? The Associated Press and Reuter s