NOBODY THOUGHT HE COULD DO IT! Brazil’s veteran left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat right-wing rival Flávio Bolsonaro by 4.4 million votes to win a fourth term, the BBC reported.
It was a dramatic turnaround: Lula lost the first round, then clawed back in just three weeks on the back of street demonstrations and a massive social media push. But Bolsonaro has told supporters in Brasília he will seek to have the election annulled.
The win bucks a regional trend. Argentina, Chile and Colombia all now have conservative leaders, and the BBC notes the Trump administration would have preferred a conservative running the country of 213 million people. Lula had warned the US not to interfere, insisting Brazil would “never fit into anyone’s backyard.”
The hangover starts now. More than 48% of voters chose Bolsonaro, his Liberal Party made the biggest gains, and Lula will face the most right-wing Congress of Brazil’s democratic era. Environmentalists cheered, after warning a Bolsonaro win could loosen protections for the Amazon.
The new term begins 5 January 2027. Lula will be 85 by the time it ends.
Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration by Bugle Blast.
Sources: BBC News
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