Lula da Silva appears before his supporters after learning of his victory. /
The candidate of the Workers’ Party prevails over Bolsonaro by a narrow margin of just 1.8% of the vote
Brazil smiles again, but not out loud. The victory of the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was by a low percentage of votes: 50.89% against 49.11% for Jair Bolsonaro, with 99.7% of the vote counted. But that does not mean that more than 59.6 million citizens of this country, of the 156 million who could cast their vote, discovered on Sunday that happiness comes one day. The streets of the main cities of the country advanced the carnival to celebrate the return to the presidency of Lula 12 years after leaving the Planalto Palace. “It is not a victory for me or for the PT (Partido de los Trabajadores). It is a victory for all women and men who love democracy, who want freedom, who want culture, education, fraternity and equality”, declared Lula, who underlined: “Brazil has defeated fascism and authoritarianism”.
Lula recalled that he remained in a 15-square-meter dungeon for more than eight months, convicted of an alleged crime of corruption and an irregular trial that would later be annulled. “They tried to bury me alive and they couldn’t,” he said in his first speech. Sergio Moro, the judge who jailed Lula and later joined the Bolsonaro government, announced that he would recognize the result.
At 77 years old, Lula will lead the country for the third time after the mandates held between 2003 and 2010. Brazilians voted out of nostalgia for a past in which they lived better and the country was considered a world economic power. Or they may also have preferred to vote against the populism of Bolsonaro, of the man who has kept the nation in stress and democracy in check, as was read yesterday in the editorial of the newspaper ‘Folha de Sao Paulo’.
It was a victory on points. Not by technical knockout, which will revive many Brazilians’ fears that the far-right leader, now a former president, will not recognize the results and challenge the elections. After casting his vote, he repeated that it would be a fair election. So he felt victorious because, according to what he said, in the last few days he had had very good feelings. And also because he trusted that God would help him continue to lead the country.
Despite how close the vote was, in which Lula only appeared at the head when 67% of the votes had already been counted, Paulista Avenue, full of his followers, recovered the Brazilian team’s shirt and the country’s flag , from which Bolsonarism had made its symbol in opposition to the Workers’ Party (PT), which is led by the new president.
ADJUSTED RESULT at 99.97%
-
50,90%
of the valid votes obtained Lula da Silva. 60,330,970 million people elected the new president. -
49,10%
It was the result achieved by Bolsonaro, who had 58,198,254 million supports. The invalid votes were 3.16%, 3,930,085 million.
The election campaign dragged on and exhausted many citizens. It was feared that abstention would exceed that of the first round (20.8%) and it was expected that the vote of the undecided would finally tip the balance. They were intense days, in which the two candidates were on the news at all hours. Days not exempt from violence, political and social. Days of personal accusations, of insults between the main candidates to govern the country for the next four years.
Lula himself acknowledged that the electoral race has been “very difficult” because, he said, it pitted “democracy against barbarism.” And now almost without a voice, he insisted that those who supported him “helped him defeat the factory of lies” of Bolsonaro, who was accused dozens of times of disseminating false information. Since his victory was confirmed, Bolsonaro has remained silent. “We still don’t know if the current president is going to facilitate the transition,” Lula declared. He has not conceded his defeat nor has he made any statement.
Jubilant scenes in Brazil after learning of the victory of the leader of the Workers’ Party. /
Weeks that demonstrated the deep division of a country that had to decide between two totally different models, in which they embraced love and hate, opposed in every way and in almost every aspect of life. So immense is the existing division and polarization, as the tight electoral result showed, that there is no common ground between the two candidates. There is no because one (Bolsonaro) represents the populism of the extreme right that if he could would remain in power forever, and the other (Lula) stands out for his unionist, progressive past and remarkable management when he led the country between 2003 and 2010 that deserved the 87% approval.
“Very difficult situation”
On Sunday both were as early risers as last October 2 when the first round of elections was held. Lula formalized his vote at the electoral college of the Firmino Correia de Araújo School, in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in Sao Paulo. Bolsonaro fulfilled the elections in a school in Rio de Janeiro. He then went to the airport to welcome Flamengo, the team with the most followers in Brazil, which on Saturday won the Copa Libertadores (equivalent to the Champions League in Europe). He maybe he didn’t think that was going to be the only celebration he was going to have.
The new president clearly prevailed in Portugal
Lula won in the three electoral colleges in Portugal, where 205,000 registered Brazilians reside, although it is estimated that the real figure amounts to more than 400,000. Of that total, just over 80,000 could vote on Portuguese soil, more than half of them in its capital, Lisbon. Precisely in Lisbon, the largest electoral college outside of Brazil, Lula obtained 64.5% of the votes, compared to 34.5% obtained by Bolsonaro.
The candidate of the progressive Workers’ Party received 64.8% of the votes in the Porto electoral college, in the north of the neighboring country, where Bolsonaro was voted for by 35.2% of the voters. Likewise, Lula also prevailed in Faro, in the southern zone, although his advantage was considerably less, obtaining 52% of the votes, compared to 48% for the leader of the Brazilian far-right.
Lula, after learning of his victory, promised his followers to “restore peace” in a divided Brazil. “I am here to govern this country in a very difficult situation, but with the help of the people we are going to find a way out so that the country can live democratically again,” he proclaimed from a hotel in Sao Paulo.
“I was almost buried alive in this country” and that is why now “I consider this moment almost like a resurrection,” added Lula, who this Sunday became the first Brazilian elected three times democratically.