Brazil: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the left-wing Workers’ Party has defeated outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential election held in Brazil. The election authority gave this information on Sunday. According to the authority, Lula da Silva got 50.9 percent and Bolsonaro 49.1 percent, according to the count of 99 percent of the total votes cast in the general election.
This is a surprise turnaround for Lula da Silva. Silva was the President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010. Silva, 77, was sentenced to prison in 2018 in a corruption case, leaving him sidelined in the election that year. Due to this, the way was paved for the victory of the then-candidate Bolsonaro.
“Today the only winners are the Brazilians,” Lula da Silva said in a speech at a hotel in the city of So Paulo. This is not a victory for me or the Workers’ Party, nor of the parties that supported me in the campaign. It is a victory for the democratic movement that rises above political parties, individual interests, and ideologies. It is a symbol of victory of democracy.”
Da Silva is promising his leftist ‘Workers’ Party’ to take over the reins. He wants to bring together centrists and even right-wing people who have voted for him for the first time. Those who want to fulfill the promise of restoring prosperity to the country will still face adversity in a politically polarized society, where economic growth is slowing and inflation is rising.
It is the first time since Brazil’s 1985 return to democracy that an incumbent president has failed to win re-election. Highly polarized elections in Latin America’s largest economy sparked a wave of recent left-wing victories in the region, including Chile, Colombia, and Argentina. Lula is promising his supporters “to take charge of the country’s power in a difficult situation” while Bolsonaro has yet to accept the election results.
It was the country’s toughest contest in three decades. With 99.5 percent of votes counted, there is a difference of only 20 lakhs between the votes of both candidates. In the last close contest in 2014, there was a difference of around 34 lakh votes between the candidates. Lula da Silva will re-enter the presidency on January 1, 2023. Thomas Truman, an independent political analyst, compared the results to the 2020 victory of US President Joe Biden, saying da Silva inherited a deeply divided nation.
Since the election results were announced on Sunday evening, Lula has received congratulations from all over the world. The European Union also congratulated da Silva in a statement and commended the electoral authority for its effectiveness and transparency throughout the election campaign. US President Biden on Sunday congratulated da Silva on being elected the next president of Brazil. “I congratulate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on being elected the next President of Brazil after free, fair and credible elections,” Biden said in a statement. Look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between the countries.”
