Lula da Silva defeats Bolsonaro to become Brazil’s new president



Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for “peace and unity” after a narrow runoff victory on Sunday ended in a remarkable political comeback, defeating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who has not yet come to terms with defeat.

The victory marks a stunning turn in the life of the charismatic but tainted leftist Lula, who left office in 2010 as the most popular president in Brazilian history, fell out of favor when he was imprisoned for 18 months on controversial corruption charges that were subsequently withdrawn and are now returning. for an unprecedented third term at the age of 77.

All eyes will now be on how Bolsonaro and his supporters will react to the result after months of allegations – without evidence – that Brazil’s e-voting system is scammed and that the courts, the media and other institutions have conspired against his far-right movement. .

“This country needs peace and unity,” Lula said to loud applause in his victory speech in Sao Paulo.

“The challenge is huge,” he said of the work ahead, citing the famine crisis, the economy, bitter political divisions and deforestation in the Amazon.

Later, he addressed a densely packed crowd of hundreds of thousands of supporters who filled the city center in the red robes of the Workers’ Party and vowed: “Democracy is back.”

“He hasn’t called yet”

Bolsonaro, 67, remained silent for hours after the result was announced.

“Anywhere in the world, a losing president would have already called to admit defeat. He hasn’t called yet, I don’t know if he will call and give in,” Lula told the huge crowd.

Some of Bolsonaro’s supporters gathered in the Brazilian capital refused to acknowledge the results.

“The Brazilian people are not going to swallow a fake election and give our nation to a thief,” said 50-year-old teacher Ruth da Silva Barbosa.

In the closest race since Brazil returned to democracy after the dictatorship of 1964-1985, the electoral authorities announced elections for Lula, who won 50.9 percent of the vote, against 49.1 percent for Bolsonaro, with more than 99.9 percent reporting percentage of polling places.

Bolsonaro, a caustic and hardline conservative dubbed “Tropical Trump”, meanwhile becomes the first incumbent not to win re-election in a post-dictatorship era.

Without a word from Bolsonaro, some of his key allies appeared in public to accept the results, including the speaker of the lower house of Congress, Arthur Lira, who said it was time to “reach out to our adversaries, discuss, build bridges.” “.

“Restore the World”

Congratulations to Lula were showered from US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Justin Trudeau, as well as leaders of Latin America.

Lula’s supporters across the country erupted in celebration Sunday night.

“We had four years of a genocidal, hateful government,” student Maria Clara, 26, a Lula voter, said at a victory party in downtown Rio.

“Democracy has won today and it is possible to dream of a better country again.”

In Brazil, a tearful crowd of Bolsonaro supporters, dressed in the green and yellow colors of the Brazilian flag, which the former army captain mistook for his own, fell to their knees to pray.

Bolsonaro, as usual, triumphed four years ago on a wave of political outrage, but has come under fire for his disastrous handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 680,000 people in Brazil, as well as a weak economy and polarizing style. and attacks on democratic institutions.

No matter how the incumbent reacts, Lula will face huge challenges from her January 1st inauguration.

Bolsonaro’s far-right allies won big wins in the parliamentary and gubernatorial races in the first round of elections on October 2 and will become the biggest force in Congress.

On Sunday, former infrastructure minister Bolsonaro Tarcisio de Freitas became governor of Sao Paulo, the country’s most populous and richest state.

“Zero Deforestation”

In his victory speech, Lula touched on gender and racial equality, as well as the urgent need to tackle the hunger crisis that affects 33.1 million Brazilians.

“Today we tell the world that Brazil is back,” he said, adding that the country is “ready to reclaim its place in the fight against the climate crisis, especially the Amazon.”

He promised to “fight for zero deforestation”.

Lula inherited a deeply divided country with an extremely difficult global economic situation that bears little resemblance to the commodity “super cycle” that allowed him to lead Latin America’s largest economy during the tipping boom of the 2000s.

Lula’s victory is “one of the biggest comebacks in modern political history,” Americas Quarterly editor-in-chief Brian Winter tweeted.

But the president-elect will face a hostile Congress and have a “weak government,” Winter told AFP.

None of this mattered as yet to Lula’s jubilant supporters.

“Brazil is starting to get back on its feet after four years of darkness. We had so many problems, so much fear,” Larisa Menezes, 34, a software developer, told AFP at a joyful party in Sao Paulo.

“Now with Lula’s victory, I really believe things will get better. This is a day to laugh a lot.”

Rodrigo ALMONACID