Lula defies odds to clinch election victory over Flavio Bolsonaro in Brazil

Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pulled off a dramatic comeback on Sunday as he clinched election victory against right-wing senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who defeated him in the first round.

With Lula's victory, Brazil staved off a conservative wave that has seen numerous countries – such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru – all shift right, backed by US President Donald Trump.

The leftist icon, who turns 81 on Tuesday, defied all projections to win an unprecedented fourth term.

According to official results, he won 51.7 percent of the votes to 48.2 percent for Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who had entered election day confident with his lead in the polls.

Lula has made history. Since the first direct election following the end of Brazil’s dictatorship in 1989, no candidate who lost the first round had gone on to win the second.

Fireworks and vuvuzelas rang out in Rio de Janeiro, while thousands of people dressed in red, the colour of Lula's Workers' Party, streamed into the streets of São Paulo to celebrate.

In a video posted to social media, the president appeared jumping for joy, wearing red, star-shaped glasses, at a hotel in São Paulo, where he is scheduled to speak to the press later.

Flávio Bolsonaro, who is in Brasilia, has yet to react officially.

In Cinelândia Square, in the heart of Rio, Lula's supporters were moved to tears. 

Julio Canelo, 42, a lawyer hailed a victory for "the entire democratic spectrum."

"It was the result of the people mobilizing, in the streets and online," he told AFP.

The left swung into action with massive rallies after the first-round defeat, declaring "Never Again Bolsonaro" and revamping a lacklustre social media strategy. 

The abstention rate decreased from the first round, falling from 21 percent to 19 percent.

A bitter campaign marred by scandals and mudslinging laid bare the deep divisions that have remained in the country of over 200 million people over the past decade.

Lula heads into a fourth term with a country divided, with almost half of the nation having rejected him, desperate for change.

Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, pitched himself as more moderate and jovial than his father and managed to galvanize conservatives as well as less ideological voters fed up with crime, the high cost of living and a sense of stagnation.

"We're in a deep hole, things are dire. People can barely afford to eat – buying meat is out of the question," said Tereza Cristina Ramos, a 68-year-old retiree, who voted in Rio de Janeiro.

After a campaign marred by scandal and mud-slinging, Sunday's vote plunged into chaos after a last-minute Supreme Court ruling extending voting by two hours, at the request of Lula who said buses had been pulled from circulation in various cities, barring citizens from voting. 

Lula rises again

Lula's re-election marks another remarkable comeback for the man who grew up dirt poor in the northeast, in a family of illiterate farmers.

He rose to the presidency as a working-class hero, taking office for the first time in 2003. He was re-elected in 2006.

Revered for social welfare programmes that lifted millions out of poverty, Lula made a dramatic return to office in 2022 elections after a corruption scandal saw him jailed for over 18 months.

The charges, annulled on procedural grounds, have continued to haunt him.

In his third term he has overseen a drop in inflation and unemployment, and lifted millions out of hunger, but many voters who turned to Flávio Bolsonaro felt gloomy about their economic situation and fed up with crime.

After a campaign marked by fearmongering on both sides – many voters reported choosing what they considered the lesser evil.

Already one of the world's oldest leaders, Lula will be 85 by the end of his new term in 2030. 

He will thus have spent 16 years in power, following his first stint as president from 2003 through 2010.

Lula is also facing a hostile Congress dominated by the right.

His options are constrained by the economic outlook, with growth expected to slow.

He has also come under renewed pressure to confront rampant security problems in a country plagued by criminal factions that sow terror in working-class neighborhoods.

The president's campaign leaned heavily on the theme of sovereignty in the face of commercial and diplomatic pressure from Trump's United States.

Voters must "choose a country where the flag is respected," he said, his raspy voice more hoarse than ever after a tireless campaign. He accused his rival of wanting to "govern with the American flag."

– TIMES/AFP