Ex-President Lula is up against incumbent Bolsonaro.
(Photo: Reuters)
Brasilia/Sao Paulo Left-wing ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won the presidential election in Brazil. Lula got 50.83 percent of the votes in the runoff, the electoral office in Brasília announced on Sunday (local time). The right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro received 49.17 percent.
A close race had previously emerged between incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his challenger Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva. As the count of votes progressed, left-wing ex-President Lula overtook right-wing populist Bolsonaro on Sunday evening. After counting 67.76 percent of the voting machines, Lula was 50.01 percent ahead of Bolsonaro, who accounted for 49.99 percent of the votes counted up to that point. As expected, Bolsonaro had a lead in the first interim results. He has a particularly large number of supporters in those regions where counting takes place more quickly.
The polling stations closed at 9 p.m. German time. Around 120 million citizens were called upon to cast their vote using electronic voting machines. Both candidates faced a runoff, as no candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes in the first ballot in early October.
Similar to ex-President Donald Trump in the United States, Bolsonaro has also expressed unproven doubts about the reliability of the voting machines, fueling fears that he might not recognize the result. On election day, street checks by police sparked fears among Lula’s supporters that they would be prevented from voting.
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The vote was preceded by a polarizing election campaign. The gap between the two camps in society is wider than it has ever been since the country’s return to democracy in 1985. Both politicians have massively accused each other of corruption, for example, and have thus contributed to the polarization of Brazilian society.
Abroad, the fight against the deforestation of the jungle in the Amazon basin is being followed with particular attention. Bolsonaro had weakened environmental protection. Lula wants to undo that.
One theme of the election campaign was the defense against impending famine. Rapidly rising costs of living and the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic are threatening food supplies on a scale that seemed unimaginable a decade ago. Dealing with the pandemic also played a role. Like his political role model Trump, Bolsonaro played down the virus and spoke of a “small cold”.
More: The head-to-head race between incumbent Bolsonaro and challenger Lula will culminate in the runoff this Sunday. Brazil is even talking about a third round of voting.