Brazil’s electoral authority said Sunday that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Leftist Workers’ Party had defeated incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro as the country’s next president.
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 not only polarized on political issues, but they also have other values, identity and opinions. other side. “
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 their horns. People in the streets of Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema community can be heard shouting, “It’s transformed!”
Da Silva’s headquarters in the downtown Sao Paulo hotel only erupted after the announcement of the final result, underscoring the tension that characterized the contest.
“Four years waiting for this,” said Gabriela Souto, one of the few supporters allowed in heavy security.
In front of Bolsonaro’s house in Rio de Janeiro, floor 0 of his base, a woman at the top of a truck said a prayer over a loudspeaker, then sang excitedly, seeking to generate energy. But enthusiasts dressed in the green and yellow flag responded slightly. Many woke up when the national anthem played, making a song loudly with their hands on their hearts.
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.
But while da Silva led the Oct. 2 first-round election with 48 percent of the vote, Bolsonaro was a fake runner-up with 43 percent, which seems opinion polls particularly underestimated his popularity. Many Brazilians Bolsonaro defends conservative social values and has bolstered his own in an election year with massive public spending.
Bolsonaro’s tenure has been marred by incendiary rhetoric from democratic institutions, widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in 15 years. But he has built a committed base by defending conservative values and presenting himself as a cover for left-wing policies that he says infringe on individual freedoms and produce economic turbulence.
Da Silva is credited with implementing a broad social coverage program during his 2003-2010 tenure that helped bring tens of millions of others into the middle class and preside over an economic boom. The guy universally known as Lula left the job with a pass score of over 80%; then the president of the United States, Barack Obama, called him “the greatest popular politician on Earth”.
But he is also remembered for his administration’s involvement in the widespread corruption exposed through extensive investigations. da Silva’s arrest in 2018 kept him out of that year’s race against Bolsonaro, a fringe lawmaker at the time who was an avowed admirer of former U. S. President Donald Trump.
Da Silva was jailed for 580 days on corruption and money laundering charges. His convictions were later overturned by Brazil’s supreme court, which ruled that the sentence he presided over had been biased and in cahoots with prosecutors. This allowed da Silva to apply for the highest job in the country. for the sixth time.
For months, he appeared headed for a simple victory while stoking nostalgia for his presidency, when the economy was booming and welfare helped tens of millions of people enroll in the middle class. But the effects of an October first-round vote on February 2 (da Silva got 48% and Bolsonaro 43%) showed that opinion polls had particularly underestimated Bolsonaro’s resilience and popularity. It has bolstered its support, in part, through extensive public spending.
Da Silva pledged to increase spending on the poor, restore relations with foreign governments and take ambitious steps to illegally log the Amazon rainforest.
It has not provided explicit plans for how it will achieve those goals and faces many challenges. The president-elect will face strong opposition from conservative lawmakers, most likely to draw inspiration from Bolsonaro.
Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Sao Paulo’s Insper University, is likely to experience the political climate experienced by former President Dilma Rousseff, da Silva’s handpicked successor after her momentary term.
Lula’s victory means Brazil seeks to triumph over years of turbulence since President Dilma Rousseff was re-elected in 2014. This election never ended; the opposition demanded a recount, she governed under pressure and removed her two years later,” Melo said. holes have become massive and then Bolsonaro did. “
This year, unemployment has fallen to its lowest point since 2015, and while headline inflation slowed the campaign, food costs are emerging at double-digit rates. Bolsonaro’s social benefits helped many Brazilians survive, but da Silva presented himself as the candidate with the maximum to maintain long-term aid and raise the minimum wage.
Da Silva has also pledged to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon and has returned prominent environmentalist Marina Silva to his side, years after a public dispute when she was minister of her environment. peoples of Brazil, which will be headed by an indigenous person.
In April, he called center-right Geraldo Alckmin, a former rival, to be his running mate. It was another key component of an effort to create a broad pro-democracy front not only to oust Bolsonaro, but also to facilitate government. Da Silva also secured that of Senator Simone Tebet, a moderate who finished in 3rd place in the first round of elections.
“If Lula manages to communicate to the electorate that he did not vote for him, what Bolsonaro has never tried, and seek negotiated answers to the economic, social and political crisis that we have, and the links with other nations that were lost, then he can reconnect. “Brazil at a time when other people can just disagree and still do safe things,” Melo said.