Advisors to Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are set to meet with government officials on Thursday to launch the transfer of power, while supporters of incumbent Jair Bolsonaro continue to protest loudly – albeit shrinking – over his election loss.

Brazil has been on edge since veteran leftist Lula’s narrow victory on Sunday over far-right incumbent Bolsonaro, who has remained silent for two days as angry supporters blocked highways across the country and called for military intervention to keep him in power.

However, the road blockades have lost strength.

Officials said there were 74 of them on Thursday, up from 250 on Tuesday after Bolsonaro issued an appeal to “open the streets” to avoid damaging the economy and infringing on people’s right to free movement.

But although the ex-army captain has vowed to respect the constitution, he has not acknowledged or congratulated Lula’s victory. He encouraged “legitimate demonstrations” in a video posted online Wednesday night – fueling fears that Brazil may still face turbulent times before Lula is sworn in on January 1 and beyond.

Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin, whom Lula has chosen to head his transition team, will hold a first meeting with Bolsonaro’s chief cabinet officer, Ciro Nogueira, on Thursday afternoon in the capital Brasilia, both teams told AFP.

According to media reports, Lula’s Labor Party (PT) leader, Gleisi Hoffmann, and the transition team’s technical coordinator, Aloizio Mercadante, will also be present.

Lula, 77, who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, won an unprecedented third term on Sunday, capping a remarkable comeback for the former metalworker, three years after he was released from prison on controversial, now-overturned, corruption convictions .

Bolsonaro supporters reacted angrily, blockading freeways with cars, trucks and tractors and rallying in front of military barracks to demand intervention.

Federal Highway Police said there were still full or partial road closures in eight of Brazil’s 27 states as of Thursday. They disbanded 862 others, they said.

In Rio de Janeiro, a protest outside a local military base had dwindled to several dozen people who appeared to have lost hope of a pro-Bolsonaro intervention.

“We will have a communist dictatorship,” protester Jessica dos Santos Ferreira, 31, told AFP, calling Lula a “thief”.