Salvador Brazil experienced an election thriller on Sunday evening: After all the votes were counted, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva narrowly won the second round of the presidential elections against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Two-time ex-president Lula was around two million votes ahead of his opponent. Lula has 50.9 percent of the vote, Bolsonaro 49.1.
The electoral office in the capital Brasilia confirmed the result late on Sunday evening. This makes 77-year-old Lula the first president of Brazil since the end of the dictatorship in 1985 to hold office for the third time. Bolsonaro, in turn, is the first incumbent not to be re-elected after a tenure.
A total of about 124 million Brazilians voted on Sunday to choose the president and 12 governors (out of 27) in runoff elections. Overall, the trend of the first ballot, according to which Brazil is divided in two, was confirmed: 58 million voters supported the right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro. Lula, who leads the centre-left camp, won 60 million votes.
With such a close election result, it is quite possible that the defeated candidate could still try to challenge the election defeat in the judiciary. In the capital Brasília it was already said that there could be a third ballot – which would take place in the judiciary. This was already the case in previous elections without changing the result. President Bolsonaro had repeatedly cast doubt on the electoral system and indicated several times that he might not want to recognize the result.
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However, shortly after the election results were announced, various representatives of state institutions made it clear that they would fully accept the election results. Arthur Lira, President of the House of Representatives and President Bolsonaro’s ally, declared that the elections were clean and flawless.
Any challenge to the result would not be accepted by Congress. The presidents of the electoral court and the Senate made similar statements. President Bolsonaro himself, who had retired with his family in the presidential palace, initially did not comment on the election result.
Lula outlines agenda for term
The winner of the election, Lula, on the other hand, explained to the press and supporters in São Paulo that it was not his victory or that of his party, but a victory for all Brazilians. He outlined a compact agenda with the tasks he intends to tackle over the next four years from January 1, 2023.
For example, he mentioned poverty reduction, a new industrial policy, a return to – high – environmental standards as in his previous governments, a re-integration of Brazil in the world economy and geopolitics. Brazil shouldn’t continue to be the global pariah, Lula said. William Bonner, the well-known presenter of TV Globo, later commented that it was comforting to see something of a return to normal on these issues.
US President Joe Biden congratulated Lula on the “free, fair and credible elections”. He hopes to continue the cooperation between Brazil and the US in the coming months and years. After the change of government from Trump to Biden, there was largely radio silence between the two countries, as well as with Europe.
The decisive factor will now be whether Bolsonaro’s supporters will accept the defeat. Bolsonaro’s supporters have repeatedly engaged in violent actions in recent days. Nevertheless, the numerous elected Bolsonaro representatives in Congress and the states are unlikely to be persuaded to contest the elections. This would jeopardize the positions they have just won.
The elections themselves, like a month ago, passed without incident. Only in the north-east, where Lula supporters lead by a wide margin, have the highway patrol, which is particularly loyal to President Bolsonaro, attempted to stop buses carrying voters from getting to the polling stations.
Lula will now have a conservative Congress and about half the governors against her. In São Paulo, the most important member state in terms of population and economic power, former Infrastructure Minister Bolsonaros won with Tarcísio de Freitas by a wide margin ahead of Lula confidante Fernando Haddad.
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.