Former US president Donald Trump on Friday hailed Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro as a "great" leader and called on Brazilians to vote him in for another term.
"VOTE for President JAIR BOLSONARO -- HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!!!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump called Sunday's runoff election a "big day for Brazil."
He hit out at Bolsonaro's opponent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, calling him "a Radical Left Lunatic who will quickly destroy your Country."
The post marked the second time that Trump has pushed for Bolsonaro's reelection, saying before the October 2 first-round vote that he is "a fantastic man, one of the great presidents of any country in the world."
Bolsonaro has been called the Trump of the Tropics. The former military officer's brash manner and disdain of the media echo the posture of the former US president.
In his statement, Trump derided Bolsonaro's opponent as "Lulu" rather than using his nickname of "Lula."
Polls give a slight edge to Lula in Sunday's runoff, but Bolsonaro surprised polling firms with more solid results than forecast in the October 2 first round.
Bolsonaro, taking a cue from Trump, has alleged without evidence that the election could be tainted by fraud and has hinted he could reject the outcome if he loses.
President Joe Biden has taken a greater distance from Bolsonaro but has refrained from open criticism and met him in June at a regional summit in Los Angeles.
Asked about the election and the potential for Bolsonaro to refuse to accept defeat, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the first round showed the integrity of the electoral system in Brazil.
"Its democratic institutions serve as a model for nations in the hemisphere and the world," Price told reporters.
"We have every expectation and confidence that the same will be true when Brazil concludes this second round in the coming days," he said.
A new Lula administration is likely to be more aligned with Biden on the need for global action on climate change after Bolsonaro infuriated environmentalists by backing agribusiness in Amazon, which plays a crucial role in counteracting the planet's carbon emissions.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
