An opportunity for Lulu to clean up a tainted legacy

The euphoria of the election victory is waning and while many Brazilians are waking up hungover after celebrating the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro, the newly elected president Iñásio Lulu da Silva is expecting new headaches.

Lula takes power on January 1, 2023 and will be in charge of rebuilding and unifying a country deeply divided after four years of Blosonar's anarchist right-wing policies.

The challenges are numerous, according to the British "Guardian" and adds that 33 million Brazilians are facing acute hunger and 100 million live in poverty, which is the highest number in recent years. Because of Bolsonaro's policies, especially those in the Amazon, Brazil has become an international outlaw.

Lula addressed this and a number of other topics in his victory speech, but made it clear that his main political goal is to improve the lives of poor Brazilians.

"We cannot accept as normal that millions of men, women and children in this country do not have enough to eat," he told his supporters after the announcement of the results. "If we are the third largest producer of food in the world and the largest producer of animal protein... it is our duty to guarantee that every Brazilian has breakfast, lunch and dinner every day".

The return of the veteran lefty

With his victory on Sunday, Lula won a third presidential term in an extraordinary political comeback of the former first president from the ranks of the working class, whose political career at one point almost ended in prison.

A former metal worker born into a farming family of illiterate parents, Lula has been a central figure in Brazilian politics for four decades, since he led a union strike against the military dictatorship in the 1980s and formed the leftist Workers' Party.

Lula called Sunday's narrow victory over right-wing Jair Bolsonaro a "resurrection" after he was jailed in Brazil's biggest corruption scandal since his two terms as president from 2003 to 2010.

"They tried to bury me alive, and I am here to govern the country," he said at the campaign headquarters on Sunday evening.

The 77-year-old, whose once shaggy hair and distinctive beard have grayed, relied on unparalleled political instincts and charisma to overcome the strong skepticism of his Workers' Party, which watched a deep recession and a massive corruption scandal eventually bring Bolsonaro to power. according to Reuters.

Lula has vowed to undo Bolsonaro's legacy, including pro-gun policies and weakened environmental protections in the Amazon, which have left Latin America's largest country increasingly isolated from the global stage.

The man former President Barack Obama once called "the most popular politician on Earth" left office 12 years ago with a record 87 percent approval rating. His policies lifted millions of Brazilians out of extreme poverty, expanded access to education and health care, and reduced Brazil's deep social inequalities during years of strong growth fueled by a global commodity boom.

Global prestige

During his presidential terms, the Brazilian oil industry as well as shipbuilding revived, while the economy became the sixth largest in the world. Brazil's global prestige has reached a new level after the country was chosen to host the Olympics and the World Cup.

However, Lula's legacy has been tarnished by revelations of corruption in public tenders that benefited the leaders of major political parties, including his own. That scandal and the deep recession of 2015-2016. they contributed to the creation of the atmosphere that resulted in the impeachment of his successor, whom he personally chose, former President Dilma Rousseff.

Lula was also tried for receiving real estate and other gifts as bribes from construction companies. He was sentenced in 2017 to nine and a half years in prison, Reuters reminds.

The ruling barred him from running for president in 2018, when Bolsonaro won on a wave of conservative backlash and antipathy toward the Workers' Party.

The former president was acquitted after 19 months, with Brazil's Supreme Court overturning the verdict after the judge who oversaw his prosecution was found to be biased. Lula has always denied the accusations and claimed they were framed by his enemies to remove him from Brazilian politics.

Lula returned from prison as a pragmatic politician promising to fight hunger and unemployment by channeling government loans and investing in strategic industries, while promising fiscal responsibility.

Lula has promised to attract foreign investment by rebuilding Brazil's credibility as the guardian of the Amazon, where Bolsonaro has allowed deforestation to reach record levels over the past 15 years.

Lula toned down his leftist image in the final phase of the campaign, swapping the bright red colors of the Workers' Party for white clothing and frequently quoting the Bible to reach out to the growing evangelical Christian community.

After his first wife died while he was in prison, Lula remarried sociologist Rosandjela da Silva last year. An avid smoker, Lula was treated with chemotherapy for throat cancer in 2011.

Celebration of leftists in the region

Lula's victory was celebrated throughout the region yesterday, while Jevičar's allies sent congratulations. "Viva Lula", Colombian leader Gustavo Petro announced on Twitter.

The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, celebrated "the new euro in the history of Latin America". "An era of hope and a future that begins immediately," he stated.

Mexico's president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, acknowledged what he called a victory for "equality and humanism."

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, issued a statement congratulating Lula on her victory after "free, fair and credible elections". "I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead," the US president said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Lula's election "represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Brazil", while Spanish President Pedro Sánchez called Lula's victory a step towards "progress and hope".

A quick international reaction is a message to Bolsonaro

The speed of the international reaction reflects widespread fears that Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has spent years attacking Brazil's democratic institutions, may refuse to concede defeat. Before the election, he said that he would contest the result, which he considered "abnormal".

In front of Bolsonaro's home in the western part of Rio de Janeiro, the news of his electoral defeat disappointed many. "I'm angry," Minik Almeido, a 36-year-old beautician, told the Guardian. "I do not know what to say". João Reis, a 50-year-old electrician, said that he is convinced that the elections were stolen.

"This is a scam, no doubt about it. They manipulated the counting of votes. The armed forces must intervene", he said and added that if this does not happen, the residents should take to the streets "and demand military intervention so that the power does not fall into the hands of the communists".

At rallies in support of Lula, the mood was different as the veteran leftist announced a war against hunger, racism and the fight against environmental destruction. "We will fight against deforestation in the Amazon... Brazlo and the planet need a living Amazon," he said.