Lula defeats Bolsonaro in Brazil's presidential election
Brazil's next president is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the leftist Worker's Party, the country's electoral authority announced Sunday.
Da Silva, known as Lula, defeated right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who is the first sitting Brazilian president to lose a re-election bid since 1985. With more than 99 percent of the votes counted, Lula is beating Bolsonaro 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent.
Lula, 77, served two terms as Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010. After leaving office, he was convicted of corruption and money laundering and served 19 months in prison. His convictions were later overturned by Brazil's Supreme Court, which ruled that the judge in the case colluded with prosecutors.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lula ran on a pro-democracy, social justice, and environment platform. During Bolsonaro's presidency, Brazil saw the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years, and he was criticized for his lax handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and spreading of conspiracy theories. His supporters applaud him for his defense of conservative ideals and brash way of speaking. Going into this election, Bolsonaro questioned the security of Brazil's electronic voting machines, and recent polls show 75 percent of his supporters trust the voting system only a little or not at all, The New York Times reports.
The close results show that Lula will be leading a sharply divided country, political analyst Thomas Traumann told The Associated Press. "The huge challenge that Lula has will be to pacify the country," he said. "People are not only polarized on political matters, but also have different values, identity, and opinions. What's more, they don't care what the other side's values, identities, and opinions are."
-
One great cookbook: Joshua McFadden’s ‘Six Seasons of Pasta’the week recommends The pasta you know and love. But ever so much better.
-
Scientists are worried about amoebasUnder the radar Small and very mighty
-
Buddhist monks’ US walk for peaceUnder the Radar Crowds have turned out on the roads from California to Washington and ‘millions are finding hope in their journey’
-
Judge rejects California’s ICE mask ban, OKs ID lawSpeed Read Federal law enforcement agents can wear masks but must display clear identification
-
Lawmakers say Epstein files implicate 6 more menSpeed Read The Trump department apparently blacked out the names of several people who should have been identified
-
Japan’s Takaichi cements power with snap election winSpeed Read President Donald Trump congratulated the conservative prime minister
-
Trump sues IRS for $10B over tax record leaksSpeed Read The president is claiming ‘reputational and financial harm’ from leaks of his tax information between 2018 and 2020
-
Trump, Senate Democrats reach DHS funding dealSpeed Read The deal will fund most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
