Twenty years after winning Brazil’s presidency for the first time, the leftist defeated incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday in a close election that marks a turnaround for the country after 4 years of good politics.
With more than 99% of the vote in the round of the moment, da Silva had 50. 9% and Bolsonaro 49. 1%, and the electoral authority said da Silva’s victory was a mathematical certainty.
It’s a stunning setback for da Silva, 77, whose 2018 jailing over a corruption scandal left him out of the 2018 election that brought Bolsonaro, a defender of conservative social values, to power.
Da Silva promises to govern beyond his Left Workers’ Party. He needs to appeal to centrists and even other right-leaning people who voted for him for the first time, and repair the country’s most disgustingly rich past. However, it faces headwinds in a politically polarized society where economic expansion is slowing and inflation is skyrocketing.
His victory marks the first time since Brazil returned to democracy in 1985 that the incumbent president has been re-elected. The highly polarized election in Latin America’s largest economy has prolonged a wave of recent victories by the left in the region, adding in Chile, Colombia and Argentina.
Da Silva’s inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 1. He was the last president from 2003 to 2010.
It was the closest election in the country in more than 3 decades. Just over 2 million votes separate the two candidates with 99. 5% of the votes counted. The last closest race, in 2014, was by a margin of 3. 46 million votes.
Thomas Traumann, an independent political analyst, the effects of US President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, saying da Silva inherits an incredibly divided nation.
“Lula’s great challenge will be to pacify the country,” he said. “People are only polarized on political issues, but they also have other values, identities and opinions. In addition, they care about the values, identities and opinions of the other party. “.
Bolsonaro had led the first part of the count, and as soon as Da Silva passed him, cars on the streets of downtown Sao Paulo began honking. People may be heard in the streets of Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema district shouting, “He turned!”
Da Silva’s siege of the downtown Sao Paulo hotel only erupted once the final result was announced, underscoring the tension that is the hallmark of this contest.
“Four years waiting for this,” said Gabriela Souto, one of the few supporters allowed in heavy security.
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In the first round of voting, on Oct. 2, the first part of the votes counted also showed Bolsonaro in the lead, with da Silva taking the lead after the votes of his strongholds were counted. Both men are well-known and debatable political figureswho arouse fondness and disgust.
The vote will determine whether the world’s fourth-largest democracy maintains the same far-right political course or sends a leftist back to the more sensible workplace and, in the latter case, whether Bolsonaro will settle for defeat. There have been several reports of what critics have said are attempts to suppress voter turnout likely for da Silva, who was president from 2003 to 2010.
Polling stations in the capital, Brasilia, were already packed in the morning, and in one of them retired government worker Luiz Carlos Gomes said he would vote for da Silva.
“He is more productive for the poor, especially in the countryside,” said Gomes, 65, from Maranhao state in the impoverished northeastern region. “We were starving before him. “
Most opinion polls before the election gave da Silva, universally known as Lula, an advantage, but political analysts agreed that the race had become increasingly close in recent weeks.
For months, it emerged that da Silva was headed for a simple victory while stoking nostalgia for his presidency, when Brazil’s economy was booming and welfare helped tens of millions of people enroll in the middle class.
Election: Da Silva beats Bolsonaro in Brazilian elections, but not with enough votes so far
But while da Silva led the first round of the Oct. 2 election with 48% of the vote, Bolsonaro came in a false second place with 43%, which seems opinion polls particularly underestimated his popularity. It has reinforced theirs through significant government spending.
The candidates in Brazil who make the most sense in the first round tend to win the current round. But political scientist Rodrigo Prando said the crusade was so that a Bolsonaro victory would not be ruled out.
More than 150 million Brazilians are eligible to vote, but about 20% of the electorate abstained in the first round. Both da Silva and Bolsonaro have their efforts in participation. The electoral authority has prohibited any operation through the Federal Highway Police from affecting the passage. of the electorate on public transport.
Even so, there were several reports of roadblocks and traffic stops. Globo TV reported more than 500 arrests, some of them in the northeastern region, a stronghold of the Workers’ Party. The party filed a request for the arrest of the traffic police leader and demanded that polling stations in the domain remain open later.
Speaking to reporters in Brasilia, the president of the electoral authority, Alexandre de Moraes, said the police leader clarified that no impediment lasted more than 15 minutes, that participation was affected and that polling stations would close at five in the afternoon local time, as expected.
Bolsonaro was the first to vote in an army compound in Rio de Janeiro. He wore the green and yellow colors of the Brazilian flag he wears at his rallies.
“I expect our victory, for Brazil,” he told reporters afterward. “God willing, we will be victorious this afternoon. In fact, Brazil will emerge victorious. “
Da Silva voted Sunday morning in Sao Bernardo do Campo, a town on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, where he lived for decades and began his political career as a union leader. He wore white, as he did during the campaign, instead of his party’s classic. red.
“Today, we determine the kind of Brazil we need, how we need our society to be organized. People will decide what kind of life they need,” da Silva told reporters. “That’s why it’s the maximum vital day of my life. “I am convinced that Brazilians will vote for a plan where democracy prevails. “
Applicants have put forward few proposals for the country’s long-term beyond announcing that they will seek a gigantic social coverage program for the poor, despite a very limited long-term fiscal area. They opposed others and introduced smear campaigns online, with many more attacks coming from inside Bolsonaro’s camp.
On the eve of the election, Bolsonaro shared on Twitter a video of former US President Donald Trump supporting him, claiming he had earned Brazil’s universal respect on the world stage. the lack of state visits and bilateral meetings.
“Don’t lose it, don’t let this happen,” Trump said in the video. “It wouldn’t be smart for your country. I love your country, but that wouldn’t be smart. So faint and vote for the president. ” I did homework like few people could. “
His four years on the job were marked by proclaimed conservatism and the defense of classical Christian values. He claimed that the return to force of his rival would introduce communism, the legalization of drugs, abortion and the persecution of churches, things that did not happen in the first 8 of da Silva. years of validity.
On Sunday, Livia Correia and her husband, Pedro, took their two young children to a polling station in Rio’s Copacabana neighborhood, where Bolsonaro supporters gather. They were all wearing green and yellow T-shirts. Livia, 36, said she voted for Bolsonaro because she defends what costs her a lot: “family values, God and freedom of expression. “
Da Silva on Bolsonaro’s widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and said the president had failed to take care of the neediest members of society. by a spike in deforestation.
But for many, the record of da Silva’s Workers’ Party is equally grim. An extensive investigation has revealed the party’s involvement in major corruption scandals that have ensnared politicians and senior officials.
Da Silva himself was jailed for 19 months on corruption and money laundering charges. The Supreme Court overturned his convictions in 2019, claiming the sentence was biased and colluded with prosecutors. That didn’t stop Bolsonaro from reminding the electorate of the condemnations.
The president’s formidable virtual mobilization has manifested itself in recent days as his crusade has brought new, and unproven, accusations of imaginable electoral manipulation. This has reignited fears that Bolsonaro could defy the electoral effects if he loses, as does Trump, whom he admires. .
For months he claimed that the country’s electronic voting machines were prone to fraud, never presenting evidence, even after the election management authority set him a deadline to do so.
More recently, the accusations are similar to airtime for political ads. Bolsonaro’s crusade claimed that radio stations may have harmed their candidate by airing more than 150,000 election ads.
“If da Silva wins, we’re going to have a problem,” said Pedro Correia, 40, who joined his wife and two children in Copacabana.
“There’s no way I’m going to just win,” he said.
Carla Bridi reported from Brasilia. Associated Press Mauricio Savarese contributed from Sao Paulo.