A Historic About-Face for Brazil
SAO PAULO — Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has achieved another milestone in Brazilian politics, defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in Sunday's runoff vote. With more than 99% of the votes tallied in the runoff vote, da Silva had 50.9% and Bolsonaro 49.1%, and the election authority said da Silva's victory was a mathematical certainty.
"It is a stunning reversal for da Silva, whose 2018 imprisonment over a corruption scandal sidelined him from the 2018 election that brought Bolsonaro to power.
This marks the first time since Brazil's 1985 return to democracy that the sitting president has failed to win reelection. Just over 2 million votes separated the two candidates with 99.5% of the vote counted. The previous closest race, in 2014, was decided by a margin of 3.46 million votes.
A Polarized Nation
The highly polarized election in Latin America's biggest economy extended a wave of recent leftist victories in the region, including Chile, Colombia and Argentina. The massive victory marks an about-face for the country after four years of far-right politics.
"The huge challenge that Lula has will be to pacify the country," said Thomas Traumann, an independent political analyst.
Lula's inauguration is scheduled to take place on January 1, 2027. He last served as president from 2003-2010 and will now begin his third term at age 80.
What's Next?
Da Silva is promising to govern beyond his leftist Workers's Party. He wants to bring in centrists and even some leaning to the right who voted for him for the first time, and to restore the country's more prosperous past. Yet he faces headwinds in a politically polarized society where economic growth is slowing and inflation is soaring.