Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a Brazilian flag as he leaves a polling station in Sao Paolo during Sunday’s presidential election.
Carl de Souza / AFP via Getty Images
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Carl de Souza / AFP via Getty Images
In just three years, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has gone from prisoner to president-elect.
After being jailed for corruption, leftist da Silva made a stunning political resurgence on Sunday by winning Brazil’s presidential election – the hard way – over the incumbent President. duty of right-wing Jair Bolsonaro.
Official profit Da Silva, a two-term former president, 50.9% of the vote compared with 49.1% for Bolsonaro. Da Silva will be sworn in for four years on January 1.
“I’m really happy,” said Victor Costelo, 33, who works in advertising, as he celebrated in the streets of Sao Paulo crowded with da Silva’s supporters, many of them dressed in Party red. Its workers. After four years of Bolsonaro, whom Costelo describes as a dictator, he said, “the next four years will be more hopeful for us.”
The extremely tight race shows just how polarized Brazil has become politically in recent years. Although the vote was largely peaceful, there was some violence during the campaign with authorities reporting the killing of at least four da Silva supporters at the hands of gunmen. Bolsonaro fanatical.
Bolsonaro, 67, a populist modeled after former US President Donald Trump, served as an army captain during Brazil’s military dictatorship that lasted from 1964-1985 and filled the cabinet with former officers. He repeatedly challenged the legitimacy of the election and the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting machines and hinted that he might not accept the result if he lost.
His anti-democratic rhetoric has alarmed many Brazilians, while 77-year-old da Silva promised a return to normalcy.
“We will fix the country and you will be happy again,” he told voters during Sunday’s pre-vote.
Da Silva and Bolsonaro were the top two finishers in the first round of presidential voting on October 2 with 11 candidates. But neither Da Silva nor Bolsonaro won more than half of the votes needed to win outright, forcing this weekend’s election to take place.
Da Silva has promised to raise the minimum wage and kickstart the economy, which has been buoyant since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Brazil and caused nearly 700,000 deaths – the world’s second-highest death toll after America. He also pledged to protect the Amazon rainforest later Deforestation hits 15-year high under Bolsonaro.
Sunday’s victory was perhaps the most spectacular of Da Silva’s political career.
After three failed presidential runs, da Silva was elected to the position in 2002 then re-elected in 2006. As president, he oversaw an economic boom that helped put millions in lifted him out of poverty, making him a symbol of the Latin American left.
However, after leaving office, Lula became embroiled in a wide-ranging bribery scandal that sent him to prison for 580 days. His political career seems to have come to an end. But he was technically released in 2019 and launched another run for the presidency that quickly garnered enthusiastic support.
His victory would help cement a leftward shift in Latin America, where, from Mexico to Argentina, the largest countries are run by leftist presidents.
World leaders were quick to congratulate Da Silva on his victory.
“I congratulate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his election as the next president of Brazil following free, fair and credible elections,” President Biden said in a statement. . “I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years to come.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a tweet that he expected to work with the leader on shared priorities, like protecting the environment.
“The Brazilian people have spoken out,” Trudeau said.
There was no immediate comment from Bolsonaro. But two of his close political allies, finance minister Paulo Guedes and Arthur Lira, the speaker of the lower house, seem to concede that Bolsonaro has lost.
Guedes tweeted “Thanks for everything, Jair Bolsonaro.” Lira told reporters it was time for pro-Bolsonaro forces to reach out to the other side, adding “permanent democracy in Brazil.”
Da Silva, speaking at a victory rally in São Paulo, acknowledged the divisive nature of voters and called for national unity. But he couldn’t resist crowing about the possibility of returning after the death of politics, saying of his enemies: “They tried to bury me alive, but here I am. … Today, we are telling the world that Brazil is back.”
