RIO DE JANERIO: the Brazilians offered a very narrow victory to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a bitter presidential election, giving the left-leaning former president another shot at power by rejecting the incumbent Jair Bolsonarois far-right politics.
Da Silva won 50.9% of the vote and Bolsonaro 49.1%, according to the country’s electoral authority. Yet the morning after the results were announced – and congratulations from world leaders poured in – Bolsonaro had yet to publicly back down or react in any way, even as truckers blocked some roads across the country in a sign. of protest.
Bolsonaro’s campaign had made repeated – unproven – allegations of possible electoral manipulation ahead of the vote, raising fears that if he lost he would not accept defeat and would try to challenge the results.
For da Silva, the high-stakes election was a stunning comeback. His imprisonment for corruption sidelined him in the 2018 election won by Bolsonaro, who used the presidency to promote conservative social values while delivering inflammatory speeches and testing democratic institutions.
“Today the only winner is the Brazilian people,” da Silva said in a speech Sunday night at a downtown hotel. Sao Paulo. “It is the victory of a democratic movement that has formed above political parties, personal interests and ideologies for democracy to emerge victorious.”
Da Silva won 50.9% of the vote and Bolsonaro 49.1%, according to the country’s electoral authority. Yet the morning after the results were announced – and congratulations from world leaders poured in – Bolsonaro had yet to publicly back down or react in any way, even as truckers blocked some roads across the country in a sign. of protest.
Bolsonaro’s campaign had made repeated – unproven – allegations of possible electoral manipulation ahead of the vote, raising fears that if he lost he would not accept defeat and would try to challenge the results.
For da Silva, the high-stakes election was a stunning comeback. His imprisonment for corruption sidelined him in the 2018 election won by Bolsonaro, who used the presidency to promote conservative social values while delivering inflammatory speeches and testing democratic institutions.
“Today the only winner is the Brazilian people,” da Silva said in a speech Sunday night at a downtown hotel. Sao Paulo. “It is the victory of a democratic movement that has formed above political parties, personal interests and ideologies for democracy to emerge victorious.”
