Brazil officially has a new President. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula, has won the second round over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and will take over Brazil’s Presidency for his third term in 2023 – with the win celebrated by many inside and outside Brazil as a win for democracy.
The Brazil he’ll take over, however, is a very divided country, where almost half of the population voted for right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro – a former army captain during Brazil’s military dictatorship who, like former US President Donald Trump, who endorsed him, challenged the legitimacy of the election and the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting machines. And though this is indeed a change for a country that desperately needs it, the question of whether it will be enough remains.
Lula and Bolsonaro were the top two in the first round of presidential voting, but since neither secured the votes required for outright victory, they were forced to wait for the runoff this past weekend. The margins were close, but Lula secured the victory with a promise to return Brazil to “normal.”
But “normal” for the largest country in Latin America is widespread corruption allegations, which not that long ago led the new President to 580 days of imprisonment. And even if the sentences were later annulled by the Supreme Court, the status quo hasn’t exactly favored most people in Brazil.
Today, however, there’s an air of hope in Brazil with the election of Lula. No matter what comes next, at least their very own Donald Trump is President no more. That might not be all the country needs, but it certainly feels like a step forward for its people, the Amazon, and Latin America.