Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), of the Workers’ Party (PT, left), won the second round of general elections held today, Sunday, in Brazil and was elected president for four terms annual, which will start on January 1, 2023.
According to figures from the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), Lula da Silva emerged victorious with more than 60 million votes, 50.89 percent of valid votes, defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party (PL, right), of who was seeking re-election, who received more than 58 million, 49.11 percent when 99.74 percent of the precincts were counted.
This is the smallest difference in determining a presidential dispute in the second round in Brazilian history.
Last October 2, in the first round of elections, Lula da Silva received more than 48 percent of valid votes, against more than 43 percent for the current president.
In an election polarized between two antagonistic proposals for the future of Latin America’s largest economy, Lula da Silva won by a narrower margin than expected, with massive support from voters in the northeast, the country’s poorest region.
His return to power represents a resurgence of political leadership after he spent more than a year in prison between 2018 and 2019 over a controversial conviction that the Supreme Court would later overturn.
At the age of 77, the former trade unionist will have the opportunity to govern Brazil for the third time and resume his project to expand the country’s international projection with a universal foreign policy through friendly relations with all countries.
Lula da Silva will return to the Presidency with an agenda with strong social content, such as the return of the policy of real increase of the minimum wage and the strengthening of state-owned companies, alongside the fight against hunger and poverty.
In a message to voters on Friday night, the former president said the first task of his next government would be to launch a process of national reconciliation to rebuild the country.
In the final days of the campaign, he released the Charter for the Brazil of Tomorrow, with the guidelines that will guide his next administration.
“Our government’s first measures will be to free 33 million people from hunger and more than 100 million Brazilians from poverty. “Democracy will be true only when the entire population has access to a dignified life, without exceptions,” the document states.
In a spirit similar to that of his previous two terms, the petista leader will seek to reconcile attention to social demands with an economic policy that combines state action and private initiative, with environmental sustainability.
“It is possible to combine fiscal responsibility, social responsibility and sustainable development, and this is what we will do, following the trends of the world’s leading economies,” the document says.
The platform also advocates the reindustrialization of Brazil, through a national strategy towards the knowledge economy.
“We will initiate the digital transition and bring Brazilian industry into the 21st century, with an industrial policy that supports innovation, stimulates public-private collaboration, strengthens science and technology, and guarantees access to affordable financing,” said he.
Lula da Silva also promised to “break isolation and resume a successful foreign policy” to expand foreign trade and technological cooperation and “promote fairer and more democratic relations between countries.”
“We will resume a sovereign, proud and active foreign policy, promoting democratic dialogue and respecting the self-determination of peoples”, emphasizing the recovery of regional integration, Mercosur and other Latin American initiatives.
It also aims to strengthen dialogue with the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the European Union and the United States.
