Jair Bolsonaro, on the right, took an early lead, but was overtaken by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on the left, in a tight presidential runoff election.
| Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva claimed a tense victory in Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday in a dramatic comeback for the left-wing politician who was languishing in a jail cell just three years ago on corruption charges.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrates with his wife Rosangela Silva, and running mate Geraldo Alckmin.US President Joe Biden quickly congratulated Mr Da Silva, universally known as Lula, on his victory, saying the election was “free, fair and credible”. Brazil’s lower house Speaker Arthur Lira did the same, saying the “will of the majority must not be challenged.” Mr Bolsonaro has yet to concede or comment on the results.
Despite his triumph, the next president will face a divided country and a divided congress, with Mr Bolsonaro’s allies having captured a large presence in both chambers on top of controlling the country’s three most populous states, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. As much as an endorsement of Mr Da Silva, the outcome is a repudiation of Mr Bolsonaro’s four years in office, including his erratic handling of the pandemic that left 700,000 Brazilians dead and his constant clashes with institutions such as the electoral authorities. The president consistently struggled with female voters, which make up almost 53 per cent of the total.
But it also showcases Mr Da Silva’s sharp political skills, particularly his ability to come back from the corruption scandal that marred his legacy. He was a wildly popular president before accusations of wrongdoing and fiscal mismanagement resulted in the impeachment of his hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff in 2016.
Brazilian markets remained largely calm during the campaign, though generally performed better on signs Mr Bolsonaro had the advantage and dipped when Mr Da Silva extended his lead. But both candidates were well-known figures expected to spring few economic surprises in the short term. There’s also been very little in terms of concrete platform proposals to parse.