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OPINION | Brazil says goodbye to its "Trump of the Tropics". Now comes the hard work

2022-11-01T01:53:08.157Z


Lula's victory was a strong rebuke to Bolsonaro's irreverent and often controversial style of government.


The main challenges that Lula will face after his tight victory 2:29

Editor's Note: 

Arick Wierson is a six-time Emmy Award-winning television producer and former Senior Media Advisor to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

He has a master's degree in economics from the Universidade do Estado de São Paulo in Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil and has worked in the country for almost 30 years advising corporate and political clients on communication strategies.

The opinions expressed in this note belong exclusively to its author.

(CNN) --

This Sunday, more than 120 million Brazilians went to the polls to vote in a second round of presidential elections in which former President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva made a surprising return to politics.


With 50.9% of the votes, Lula defeated the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, who obtained 49.1%, which represents a difference of about 2 million votes.

It was a very close election and the final result was only known after almost all the votes of the 577,000 electronic voting machines in the country were counted.

On the one hand, Lula's victory was a strong rebuke to Bolsonaro's irreverent and often controversial style of government, earning him the derisive nickname "Trump of the Tropics."

  • Who is Jair Bolsonaro: his career, his family and the list of controversies that involve him

In fact, Bolsonaro not only received the support of former United States President Donald Trump, but, like him, he was widely criticized for his handling of the coronavirus, which caused almost 700,000 deaths in the country, according to the World Health Organization. .

Furthermore, Bolsonaro's aggressive anti-LGBTQ agenda, resolutely anti-environmental policies, and authoritarian tendencies made him something of a pariah in the international media.

lullah's return

Lula, who was already president twice, from 2003 to 2010, did not come to these elections without burdens.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that his conviction was overturned on a jurisdictional technicality for his role in "Operation Car Wash," one of the world's biggest public corruption scandals, Lula would still be serving his 12-year sentence. from prison

  • Why did Lula da Silva receive a prison sentence (which was later overturned)?

His critics have feared that his return to public service could usher in a new wave of large-scale corruption and inefficiency in Brazil's most important state-owned companies.

Not since the end of the military dictatorship in the 1980s have Brazilians faced two such contrasting candidates, each with diametrically opposed political perspectives for the country.

And with Lula winning by just over 2 million votes, while some 5 million votes were left blank or voided on purpose by voters, it is clear that a sizeable percentage of the voting population did not buy any of his visions for the country.

A deeply divided Brazil

Although it is still early days, fears that Bolsonaro might not accept the results or even stage a coup are fading fast, as even pro-Bolsonaro conservative media are accepting the results.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that now, on January 1, when Lula is sworn in for his third term as president, he will have to find a way to govern a deeply divided country with great mistrust of the other side.

Unlike his previous victories, in which Lula came into office with a clear mandate, obtaining more than 60% of the vote in both 2002 and 2006, this time Lula not only won a narrow victory, but will face a congress that continues to be very aligned with Bolsonaro.

In fact, in the first round of the elections, at the beginning of October, the allies of the current president won a plurality of seats in both the Lower House and the Senate.

Furthermore, with the results of Sunday's second round of gubernatorial elections across the country, it is clear that Bolsonaro's allies will be in power in 14 of Brazil's 27 states, including the economically most important states of São Paulo. , Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.

  • Lula's main challenges as president of Brazil: uniting a divided country and protecting the Amazon

A to-do list

And it is in this context that Lula will have to face seismic challenges on multiple fronts.

Brazil has been in something of an economic free fall since the start of the pandemic and has yet to fully recover.

Hunger has re-emerged as a pressing social concern, while racial inequalities have been exacerbated in recent years.

Urban violence continues to terrorize cities across the country and systemic corruption remains rampant.

Perhaps most important to the rest of the world is Brazil's role in combating global warming: the country is home to much of the Amazon rainforest.

Under Bolsonaro, deforestation in the Amazon increased.

Lula, for his part, highlighted the need to protect the forest in his victory speech, stating that his administration "would fight for zero deforestation."

That said, mobilizing the necessary political force to address these issues in this country of 215 million people will not be easy.

But if there is a silver lining in Lula's victory, it is that both regional powers and financial markets seem willing to lend a hand to help the incoming president in his government program.

Lula will be welcomed with open arms by many of Latin America's left-leaning leaders who have been propelled to victory in recent years, as well as by global financial markets, where investors are cautiously bullish on growth prospects. of a Brazil led by Lula.

Lula would do well to lean on these international alliances as he begins to form a government.

But perhaps more importantly, Lula's success, and that of the country, will likely depend on the president's political skills and his ability to extend an olive branch to the main political leaders who supported Bolsonaro, as he seeks to build a coalition. that can help you achieve your political agenda.

On the Brazilian right there is already talk of the possibility of impeaching Lula, a very real possibility with extensive historical precedents, since two of the eight presidents that Brazil has had since the return to democracy in 1985 were dismissed before the end of their term. .

Much is at stake for Brazil.

And much is at stake for Lula, not only politically, but also personally.

Jair Bolsonaro Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-11-01

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