Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has started reaching out to the leaders of Argentina, the United States and France ahead of his inauguration in January.

He beat the country's rightwing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by a narrow margin in Sunday's runoff election. Lula is a leftist former president. He served two terms from 2003 through 2010.

Lula met with Argentina's president, Alberto Fernandez, in Sao Paulo on Monday. He spoke by telephone with US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on the same day.

Lula has expressed his intention to put an emphasis on strengthening ties with other members of the five-nation BRICS group, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The president-elect has also indicated he will coordinate closely with leftist governments in Latin America.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro has not appeared in public since the election. He has not stated whether or not he has accepted the election results.

Some of Bolsonaro's supporters have protested against Lula's victory. A number of truckers backing the incumbent blocked some highways around the country.