The election authorities in Brazil are contesting the results of this year s fiercely contested presidential election, according to the outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro narrowly lost a run-off vote last month to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da SilvaLula da Silva, popularly known as Lula, who is due to be inaugurated as president on January 1.
Bolsonaro has stopped short of conceding that he lost, but he has previously stated that he would continue to fulfill all the commandments of the constitution, leading observers to believe that he would cooperate with the transfer of power.
But in the petition filed on Tuesday, Bolsonaro and the leader of his right-wing Liberal Party allege that some voting machines had malfunctioned and any votes cast through them should be annulled.
According to the analysis done by a company hired by Bolsonaro's party, the complaint claims that removing those votes would give Bolsonaro victory.
According to Bolsonaro's petition, election authorities said that since the same voting machines were used in the first round of elections, Bolsonaro and his party must amend their complaint to include those results in order for the process to make its way through the courts, affiliate CNN Brasil reported.
Bolsonaro and his petitioners have 24 hours to amend their submission, according to Alexandre Moraes, chief justice of the Supreme Electoral Court.
Last month a heated election came amid a tense political climate in Brazil, which has been struggling with high inflation, limited growth and rising poverty.
Lula da Silva received more than 60 million votes according to the election authority's final tally, the most in Brazilian history and breaking his own record from 2006.