US congratulates Brazil's Bolsonaro on election victory

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S. on Monday congratulated Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro on his recently electoral victory.

"We salute Brazil’s strong commitment to democracy and congratulate the Brazilian people on participating in a successful election," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. "We value our deep cooperation with Brazil and look forward to working with President-elect Bolsonaro in the coming years."

The far-right candidate won Sunday's runoff election to become Brazil's next president.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he personally wished Bolsonaro congratulations during a Monday telephone call, which he called "excellent."

"We agreed that Brazil and the United States will work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else!" Trump said on Twitter.

With 99 percent of ballots counted, Bolsonaro garnered 55.1 percent of the votes compared to 44.9 percent of the electorate who cast ballots for Fernando Haddad, the candidate of the left-wing Workers' Party.

In the first round of the election earlier this month, Bolsonaro received 46.89 percent of the ballots. Haddad got 28 percent.

In his victory speech, the former army captain vowed to defend "the constitution, democracy and freedom" in the country.