Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won Brazil's presidential election, ousting right wing populist President Jair Bolsonaro by the tightest of margins.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a Brazilian flag while leaving a polling station in Sao Paolo during Sunday's presidential runoff election.In just three years, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has gone from prisoner to president-elect.
"I'm really happy," said Victor Costelo, 33, who works in advertising, as he celebrated on the streets of Sao Paulo that were crowded with da Silva supporters, many of them wearing the red colors of his Workers Party. After four years of Bolsonaro, who Costelo described as an authoritarian, he said,"the next four years will be more hopeful for us."
His anti-democratic rhetoric alarmed many Brazilians, while 77-year-old da Silva promised a return to normality. Da Silva has promised to increase the minimum wage and jump-start the economy, which has been flagging since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Brazil and caused nearly 700,000 deaths – the world's second-highest death toll after the U.S. He has also pledged to protect the Amazon rainforest afterSunday's victory was perhaps the most spectacular in da Silva's roller-coaster political career.
His victory will help consolidate a leftward shift in Latin America where, from Mexico to Argentina, the biggest countries are run by leftist presidents."I send my congratulations to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following free, fair, and credible elections," President Biden said in a statement."I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead.