https://news.yahoo.com/brazil-election-bolsonaro-defeated-lula-013752193.html
BBC
Brazil election: Bolsonaro defeated as Lula makes comeback
Vanessa Buschschlüter - BBC News Online Latin America editor, Rio
Sun, October 30, 2022 at 6:37 PM
Brazil has taken a turn to the left as former president Luiz Inácio Lula
da Silva beat far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential
election.
After a divisive campaign which saw two bitter rivals on opposite sides
of the political spectrum go head to head, Lula won 50.9% of the votes.
It was enough to beat Jair Bolsonaro, whose supporters had been
confident of victory.
But the division which this election has highlighted is unlikely to vanish.
It is a stunning comeback for a politician who could not run in the last
presidential election in 2018 because he was in jail and banned from
standing for office.
He had been found guilty of receiving a bribe from a Brazilian
construction firm in return for contracts with Brazil's state oil
company Petrobras.
Lula spent 580 days in jail before his conviction was annulled and he
returned to the political fray.
"They tried to bury me alive and here I am," he said, kicking off his
victory speech.
Five key facts about Lula
Lula in n Sao Paulo, Brazil, 30 October
Lula embraced his wife Rosangela after his victory
77 years old
Left-wing
Former metal worker
President from 2003-2010
Imprisoned in 2018 but conviction was later thrown out
Opinion polls suggested from the start that he would win the election,
but when his lead in the first round was much narrower than predicted,
many Brazilians started to doubt their accuracy.
Jair Bolsonaro's backers - encouraged by their candidate's allegations
that "the establishment" and the media were against him and therefore
underplaying his support - had complete faith in his victory.
The left-wing leaders victory is likely to rankle with these Bolsonaro
fans, who routinely label Lula "a thief" and argue that the annulment of
his conviction does not mean he was innocent, just that the proper legal
procedure was not followed.
And while Jair Bolsonaro has lost, lawmakers close to him won a majority
in Congress, which means that Lula will face stiff opposition to his
policies in the legislative body.
But Lula, who served two terms in office between January 2003 and
December 2010, is no stranger to forging political alliances.
As his vice-presidential running mate he chose former rival Geraldo
Alckmin, who ran against Lula in previous elections.
His strategy of creating a "unity" ticket seems to have paid off and
drawn voters into the fold who may not have consider otherwise casting a
ballot for his Workers' Party.
In his victory speech, he struck a conciliatory tone, saying he would
govern for all Brazilians and not just those who voted for him.
"This country needs peace and unity. This population doesn't want to
fight anymore," he said.
Jair Bolsonaro has yet to concede. The campaign had in part been so
tense because the far-right president had cast doubts - without offering
any evidence - on the reliability of Brazil's electronic voting system.
This fomented fears he might not accept the result if it went against him.
A day before the second round however, he stated that: "There is not the
slightest doubt. Whoever has more votes, takes it [the election]. That's
what democracy is about."
Five key facts about Bolsonaro
Brazil's President and presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro looks on at
a polling station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 30, 2022.
Brazil's President and presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro looks on at
a polling station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 30, 2022.
67 years old
Far-right
Former army captain
Running for a second consecutive term
Has cast unsubstantiated doubts on the trustworthiness of Brazil's
electronic voting system
On election day itself, busses carrying voters to the polls were stopped
by police in what Lula's campaign said was an attempt to prevent them
from voting.
The head of the electoral court, Alexandre de Moraes, ordered the
highway police to lift all roadblocks and checks.
He said that while some voters had been delayed, none had been prevented
from voting. But the incidents raised tensions considerably.
Now there is much expectation as to when and what Mr Bolsonaro will say
now that it is official that fewer votes were cast for him than for Lula.
The election has not just been closely watched in Brazil, but also
abroad, with environmental activists in particular worried that another
four years of a Bolsonaro government would have led to further
deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
Lula referred to these fears in his victory speech saying that he was
"open to international co-operation to protect the Amazon".
"Today we tell the world that Brazil is back. It is too big to be
banished to this sad role of global pariah," he added in a dig at his rival.
But at the heart of his speech was a promise to tackle hunger, which has
been on the rise in Brazil and which is affecting more than 33 million.
Key to Lula's popularity during his first two terms in office was
lifting millions of Brazilians out of poverty.
But in a post-pandemic economy, finding the finances to recreate that
feat will not be an easy task, especially if he is hampered by a hostile
Congress.