President Lula da Silva of Brazil elected for fourth term

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been re-elected for a fourth term, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro in a neck-and-neck election conducted on Sunday.

Mr Lula won the election with 51.75 per cent of the vote, while Mr Bolsonaro received slightly fewer votes, accounting for 48.25 per cent of the total, according to the state’s Superior Electoral Court.

This is the fourth win for the left-wing politician who served two terms as president from January 2003 to December 2010, and again from January 2023. He won despite losing to Bolsonaro in the first round of voting in early October.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the first round of voting ended in a runoff as Mr Bolsonaro, despite having the most votes, failed to reach 50 per cent.

Mr Bolsonaro is a far-right senator and the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for masterminding a failed coup after losing the 2022 election.

This loss is particularly significant for Mr Bolsonaro, as it is the first time a candidate who won the first round of voting has lost in the second since the country’s return to democracy in 1988.

It also bucks a wider regional trend in which citizens have consistently voted for right-wing candidates. Right-wing leaders in the region have won seven straight elections within the last 18 months.

These right-wing candidates are allied with US President Donald Trump, raising concerns about his influence in Latin America.

Mr Trump quietly backed the campaign to put Mr Bolsonaro in power as he seeks to strengthen US influence in the region. His administration’s national security strategy outlined that the US wanted to “restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.”

The Bolsonaros in power would have made this a reality. It would have been the biggest win so far for the ascendant right-wing movement marching across Latin America.

The politician’s campaign had capitalised on public dissatisfaction with the economy. It focused on the cost-of-living crisis, growing insecurity, and personal debt. Although Brazil has recorded declining poverty and unemployment, household incomes have failed to keep pace with rising living costs.

Mr Lula’s victory now leaves Mexico and Brazil, Latin America’s two most populous nations, with left-wing leaders.

Speaking in São Paulo after the result was announced, vice president Geraldo Alckmin said Mr Lula has “for the second time, saved Brazilian democracy.”

The president described the election as a victory over negativity and lies.

In his victory speech, Mr Lula said Brazil will “not accept being in anyone’s backyard.”

“People voted because we could convince them that the vote was important for the sovereignty of our country,” he noted.

Mr Bolsonaro, who was expecting to give a victory speech in Brasília after winning the first round, has rejected the result.

He called Mr Lula’s win “impossible” and “inexplicable.”

He also demanded that the result be annulled.