His comments will do little to dispel the concerns of his critics, who fear that the far-right former army captain will not accept any election loss in next year's vote. Bolsonaro is almost certain to face his political nemesis, former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Polls show Lula ahead.
"I'll hand over the presidential sash to whoever wins the election cleanly," Bolsonaro said in a weekly address via social media. "Not with fraud."
Since his 2018 election victory, Bolsonaro has made baseless allegations of voter fraud in Brazil, which critics say could lay the groundwork to challenge upcoming elections in the same vein as his political idol, former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Comment: In Trump's case it's blatantly clear that voter fraud stole the presidency: Do Trump's2020 election fraud claims have merit? It would appear so
Bolsonaro backed Trump's claims of a stolen election last year, which culminated in a deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol building in Washington by Trump supporters.
Comment: That's not quite what happened at the Capitol that day: "Incitement" timeline debunked as ex-Capitol police Chief says Pelosi & McConnell's Sergeants-at-Arms refused security measures
In recent months, Bolsonaro has been touting a bill for printed ballots rather than Brazil's modern computer voting. He has said the printed ballots will be easier to audit, and are thus more likely to avoid fraud. Few experts agree, and the bill has yet to gain much traction in Congress.
Comment: That may be one of the main weaknesses of their voting system, but there are a variety of ways to rig an election.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro said he was "alerting" people about the possibility of problems if the current electronic system remains in place.
"The people won't accept it," he said.
Bolsonaro also said his government was in talks about extending an emergency coronavirus aid package for two or three more months.
Comment: The same Bolsonaro who, not long ago, was exposing, at least in part, the manufactured coronavirus crisis is now thinking of extending the state of emergency? Is that because there's some benefit in him doing so? Either way, it's clear that corrupt forces have a significant influence in Brazil: