Lula makes a stunning comeback to beat far-right Bolsonaro in Brazil’s election
Tom Phillips
Brazil’s leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has sealed a stunning political comeback, beating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in one of the most important and decisive elections in the country’s history.
With 99% of the votes counted, Silva, a former factory worker who became Brazil’s first working-class president exactly 20 years ago, had won 50.8% of the vote. Bolsonaro, a curtain-raiser who was elected in 2018, received 49.1%.
A few streets away from Paulista Avenue, one of the city’s main arteries, Lula’s supporters gathered to celebrate his victory and the fall of a radical right-wing president whose presidency produced an environmental tragedy and saw nearly 700,000 Brazilians die from Covid.
“Our dream is coming true. We have to be free,” said Joe Kallif, a 62-year-old social activist who was among the cheering crowd. “Brazil was in a very dangerous place and now we are regaining our freedom. The last four years have been horrible.”
Gabrielly Soares, a 19-year-old student, jumped for joy as she commemorated the impending victory of a leader whose social policies helped her get a college education.
“I feel so happy… During four years of Bolsonaro I saw my family slide backwards and under Lula they flourished,” he said, a rainbow banner draped over his shoulders.
Ecstatic and tearful supporters of Lula – who won more than 59 million votes to Bolsonaro’s 57 – hugged and threw beer cans into the air.
“This means that we will have someone in power who cares about those at the bottom. Right now we have a person who does not care about the majority, us LGBT people,” Soares said. “Bolsonaro … is a bad person He doesn’t show an iota of empathy or solidarity with others. There is no way he can continue as president.”
There was also celebration in the region as leftist allies tweeted their congratulations. “Long live Lula,” said Colombia’s leader, Gustavo Petro.
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Summary
These are the main news of the last few hours:
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Former Brazilian president and leftist candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, defeated far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the second round of Brazil’s national election.
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The stunning political comeback welcomed by environmental, indigenous and progressive activists. Bolsonaro’s presidency saw deforestation in the Amazon rise to a 15-year high.
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With 100% of the votes counted in one of the largest democracies in the world – there are 156 million voters in Brazil – Lula had 50.9% of the votes to Bolsonaro’s 49.1%. The president-elect will take office on January 1, 2023.
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Bolsonaro’s leadership saw nearly 700,000 Brazilians die from Covid.
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Addressing reporters at a São Paulo hotel, Lula promised to reunify his country. “We will live new times of peace, love and hope,” said the 77-year-old, who was sidelined from the 2018 election that saw Bolsonaro reclaim power after being jailed on corruption charges that were later dropped sides
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As Brazilians went to the polls for the second time in a month, there were alarming reports of voter suppression, with members of the federal highway police, a notoriously pro-Bolsonaro security force, setting up roadblocks in Lula’s strongholds in the northeast of the country. .
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Lula’s margin of victory is the closest since 1989, when Brazilians voted for a president for the first time since the end of the military dictatorship. With only a handful of votes to count, Lula is ahead by roughly 50.7% to 49.3%.
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In the first round, Lula obtained 48.43% of the votes against Bolsonaro’s 43.20%, without achieving the more than 50% necessary for an absolute majority.
Tonight’s victory is also a victory for Brazil’s LGBT community, who also scored victories in the first round of voting, which saw two trans candidates elected to congress for the first time in history.
Transgender candidates Erika Hilton and Duda Salabert won easy elections in the chamber of deputies where they pledged to fight for LGBT rights.
Supporters of former Brazilian president (2003-2010) and leftist Workers’ Party (PT) candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrate in Sao Paulo, Brazil on October 30, 2022. Photo: Caio Guatelli/AFP /Getty Images
As Gabrielly Soares, a 19-year-old student, told my colleague Tom Phillips earlier, “This means we’re going to have someone in power who cares about the lowest. Right now we have a person who doesn’t care about the majority , for us, for LGBT people”.
Bolsonaro is openly homophobic, ridicules LGBT Brazilians and uses homophobic slurs to ridicule wearing masks during the Covid pandemic.
Updated at 01.23 GMT
In his third term, Lula will face a sluggish economy, tighter budget constraints and a more hostile legislature. Bolsonaro’s allies form the largest bloc in Congress after this month’s general election revealed the enduring strength of his conservative coalition.
Right-wing news Antagonist: Bolsonaro will not challenge the result, will not call Lula
Brazilian right-wing website Antagonista reports that Bolsonaro “will not call the president-elect” tonight, but also that he does not “intend to question the result”, citing representatives of Bosonaro who spoke to the website.
If true, it will come as a relief amid widespread fears that Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has spent years attacking Brazil’s democratic institutions, is refusing to accept defeat.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s supporters:
Lula open to international cooperation to save the Amazon rainforest
In his speech this evening, President-elect Lula invited international cooperation to preserve the Amazon rainforest and said he will seek fair global trade instead of trade agreements that “doom our country to be an eternal exporter of raw materials”.
Environmentalist Marina Silva, a prominent centrist who supported Lula’s campaign, told the Guardian’s Tom Phillips this evening: “It’s so sad that so many people who dreamed of this moment are no longer here.”
It paid tribute to murdered Guardian journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, who were killed in the Brazilian Amazon in June 2022 while researching a book Phillips was writing called How to Save the Amazon.
More from Lula’s speech, via longtime Brazil correspondent Andrew Downie.
“We have a duty to ensure that all Brazilians can have breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and this will once again be the priority of my government.”
In his first two terms, Lula built an extensive social welfare program, the “Bolsa Família,” which helped lift tens of millions of Brazilians into the middle class. Bolsonaro ended Bolsa Família in 2021, after introducing a new system, called Auxílio Brasil.
Back to the future for Lula in a speech similar to the one he won in 2002. “We have a duty to ensure that all Brazilians can have breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and this will again be the priority of my government.” https://t.co/JILfzuHd1k
— Andrew Downie (@adowniebrazil) October 31, 2022
Updated at 00.41 GMT
Front page of tomorrow’s Guardian:
Lula: “We are a country, a people, a great nation”
Tom Phillips
Addressing reporters at a Sao Paulo hotel, Lula vowed to reunify his country after a toxic race for power that has deeply divided one of the world’s largest democracies.
“We will live new times of peace, love and hope,” said the 77-year-old, who was sidelined from the 2018 election that saw Bolsonaro reclaim power after being jailed on corruption charges that were later dropped sides
“I will govern for 215 million Brazilians… and not only for those who voted for me. There are no two Brazils. We are one country, one people, one great nation,” he said to applause.
“It is not in anyone’s interest to live in a country divided and in a constant state of war.”
Workers’ Party candidate Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva speaks after being elected president of Brazil on October 30, 2022. Photo: Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images
Updated at 00.29 GMT
Uruguayan political scientist Andrés Malamud has run some numbers and suggests that the recent wave of leftist victories in South America is due more to voter dissatisfaction with their current leaders than to ideology.
He points out that “the left won 6 of the 11 presidential elections in South America. The opposition, 10 of 11”.
“More than ideology, it’s because voters are fed up,” he writes:
The left won 6 of the last 11 presidential elections in South America. The opposition, 10 of 11. More than ideology, fatigue rules. pic.twitter.com/ES8o5AUAn1
— Andrés Malamud (@andresmalamud) October 30, 2022
Updated at 00.30 GMT