By Nitya Chakraborty
Incumbent President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, better known globally as Lula made a dramatic comeback in October 25 run off Presidential elections by comfortably defeating the far right candidate Flavio Bolsonaro who was the frontrunner after the first round of elections on October 4.
After 100 per cent counting on Sunday night, the Election Commission announced that 80 year old Lula representing the Left coalition got 51.79 per cent votes as against his 45 year old far right rival Flavio Bolsonaro receiving 48.21 per cent. So Lula had a clear lead of 3.58 per cent. This was a remarkable fightback as in October 4 round, Bolsonaro had a clear lead of 2 per cent over Lula.
This was Lula’s consecutive second term and in all fourth term as President of the largest economy of Latin America. It was an incredible achievement for the Brazilian Left to organize the historic win through three weeks of intense campaigning focusing on the disgruntled workers who did not vote for Lula in the first round and also the absentee voters who avoided both candidates and did not cast their votes in the first round.
All the members of the coalition including The Workers Party of Lula and the Brazilian Communist Party having big base among the trade unions, resolved to persuade the deserters of the first round to the side of Lula in the run off. Every member was asked to contact and persuade one new voter. The campaign focus turned a bit nationalistic as the slogan was save Brazil from being a colony of the Americans. The final campaign rally on Saturday was attended by one million people amidst joyous celebrations as if the victory was already achieved.
Addressing a packed crowd of ecstatic supporters in a São Paulo conference hall, Lula said: “We are going to change the way that this country is governed … This election was a defeat for denialism … I want to thank God and to thank you, Brazilian men and women of this country … it was democracy that made this happen.”Lula’s vice president Geraldo Alckmin told the crowd addressing his President “You saved Brazilian democracy for the second time. Congratulations, President Lula”.
In fact, the entire Latin American Left was looking at the outcome of the October 25 Presidential elections in Brazil as Brazil was the last big country still under Left rule while the far right upsurge in other Latin American nations was continuing with big support from the Trump administration. Lula took it as a challenge after his defeat in the first round and made an appeal to the common Brazilians to save the country from the rule of far right Bolsonaro, an acolyte of President Trump. His fervent appeal had its impact on the non Left nationalist Brazilians, the results showed
Alexandre Padilha, Lula’s health minister, said: “This is a huge victory for the Brazilian people who in the second round had the chance to think about what President Lula means for the environment, for the defense of our national health service and our education system and the Brazilian constitution. And the risks that the extreme right candidate entailed.”He said that this was a massive victory, not just for Brazil, but for entire Latin America and the world.
The extent of Lula’s campaign success in the runoff is explained by the fact that in the first round of elections on October 4, he lost by 2.2 million votes, but in the final round on October 25, Lula won by 4.3 million. So in three weeks, the net gain of the Left campaign was around 6.5 million votes compared to the first round. This has been an unprecedented success for the Left coalition taking into account the far right domination in opinion polls till the last stage.
But as usual, the defeated far right candidate Flavio Bolsonaro is not ready to concede victory to Lula. Bolsonaro said it was “impossible to concede the election result” and that his legal team would seek to have the election annulled. Flavio was just following the precedent of his father former President Jair Bolsonaro who tried to stage a coup after the 2022 presidential election results were announced indicating Lula’s victory. Jair Bolsonaro is now undergoing sentence for 27 months following a Supreme Court order.
Flavio in his election speech said that once he got elected, he would pardon his father and set him free to join politics. So the entire Bolsonaro family, many of whom have been elected as Congress members and governors in the October 4 elections, are disheartened. Similarly, Trump administration is also upset at Lula victory. Trump is following a Donroe doctrine of regime take over in Latin America through direct or indirect ways. Now, In Brazil, his plans have flopped.
For Lula, who turns 81 on Tuesday October 27, the victory represents a sensational final chapter in a charismatic political career that began when he emerged as a union leader in São Paulo’s industrial suburbs in the late 1970s.It has been a political journey for more than five decades with twists and turns. He has won the presidency but his coalition is minority in the chamber of deputies and in state administrations where the Bolsonaro party won more seats in October 4 elections. So the four time President will have to be ready to face a tumultuous congress having more opposition members.
For Latin American Left, Lula victory was a great news amidst continuing n setbacks in Latin American elections in the last two years. Far right pro-Trump leaders have taken over in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and even Bolivia. The Left parties will now get encouraged to intensify battles against the right wing regimes in these countries. Already in Colombia, Chile and Argentina, the trade unions are on the streets demanding better living conditions. This process is expected to continue with more vigour in the coming period. (IPA Service)
