Lula wins Brazil's presidential election, edges out incumbent Bolsonaro in tight contest

Lula, a leftist democrat, won Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday, defeating the incumbent far-right President Jai Bolsonaro in a tightly contested election.

By India Today Web Desk: Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula, won the presidential race on Sunday to become the 39th president of Brazil.

In a closely contested election, Lula secured 50.9 per cent of votes compared to incumbent far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s 49.1 per cent, according to the Supreme Electoral Court of the country.

Lula, a leftist democrat, is set to become Brazil’s president for the third term, having severed the first two terms from 2003 to 2010.

In a speech on Sunday night, Lula said he would unite a divided country and ensure that Brazilians "put down arms that never should have been taken up" while inviting international cooperation to preserve the Amazon rainforest and make global trade more fair, Reuters reported.

LULA’S LEGAL BATTLE

Lula, a former union leader, had been through unprecedented political upheaval after his name appeared in a controversial Car Wash scandal that lay bare the corruption in allocating contracts by officials of a state-owned petroleum company, Petrobras.

Lula was barred from contesting the 2018 presidential election following his conviction in the scandal. However, in 2021, the country’s Supreme Court overturned the decision, ruling that the 2018 judgement was biased against the 77-year-old leader.

Meanwhile, Jair Bolsonaro (67) remained tight-lipped about the results. According to the sources, electoral authorities fear Bolsonaro may claim the election to be rigged, refusing to accept the mandate.

BOLSONARO’S TERM

The outcome of the result seems to be encouraged by the flak Jair Bolsonaro drew for his lackadaisical approach to tackling Covid by refusing to accept the looming danger the virus was capable of invoking. As a result, Brazil recorded nearly 7,00,000 deaths.

Bolsonaro's government also failed to tame the persistent inflation in the country and worsened the nation’s debt-to-GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio with injudicious decisions.

Courtesy: India today