Advisors to Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met with government officials on Thursday to launch the transfer of power, while supporters of incumbent Jair Bolsonaro continued 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, as the blockades weakened, the wheels of transfer of power were set in motion when vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckmin, whom Lula had chosen to lead his transition team, met Bolsonaro’s chief cabinet officer, Ciro Nogueira, in Brasilia.

“The conversation was very fruitful, very objective,” Alckmin said at a press conference.

“The transition has started… As Lula said in his victory speech, our job is to unite Brazil. So let’s go.”

Alckmin, a pro-business centre-right veteran who is tasked with building bridges with Lula’s opponents, said he will now meet with the president-elect and they would begin announcing full membership of the transition team from Monday.

Also present were Lula’s Labor Party (PT) leader, Gleisi Hoffmann, and the transition team’s technical coordinator, Aloizio Mercadante.

Earlier, Alckmin held what he called another “fruitful” meeting with Senate Budget Rapporteur Marcelo Castro to explore ways to fit key promises from the Lula campaign into an extremely tight 2023 federal budget.

“We have various emergencies,” said Labor Party Senator-elect Wellington Dias, who is leading Lula’s budget negotiations.

“We try to find the necessary amount for each critical point,” he said at a press conference.

The Conservatives scored big electoral victories in Congress, where Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL) will be the strongest force – meaning Lula faces an uphill battle to pass legislation and deal with issues like a weak economy, the hunger crisis and the mounting destruction in the country Tackling the Amazon Rainforest.

Alckmin had harsh words for the pro-Bolsonaro protesters’ roadblocks that threatened to wreak economic havoc.

“It is extremely serious to endanger people’s health, hospital supplies, vaccines, food and fuel. Who will pay for the damage?” he said.

Officials said there were 74 roadblocks on Thursday, up from 250 on Tuesday after Bolsonaro issued an appeal to “open the roads” 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.

Bolsonaro encouraged “legitimate demonstrations” in a video posted online Wednesday night – fueling fears that Brazil could still face turbulent times before Lula is sworn in on January 1 and beyond.

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.

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”.

There were fears that Bolsonaro, an admirer of Donald Trump, would attempt to stage a Brazilian version of the 2021 riots in Washington following the former US President’s own election defeat.

But Bolsonaro seemed isolated after his defeat as top allies, including powerful Commons Speaker Arthur Lira, acknowledged the result.

The demonstrators have now come under criticism for their sometimes extreme measures and views.

Authorities in the southern state of Santa Catarina launched an investigation after a group of hundreds of pro-Bolsonaro protesters were filmed on Wednesday appearing to perform Nazi salutes.

In several states, organized football supporters’ clubs cleared roadblocks so they could get to their teams’ away games – earning praise on social media from Brazilians angered by the blockades.