Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a vocal critic Donald Trump, was reelected Sunday in a result that provides relief to critics of widening U.S. influence in Latin America.
With 100% of the vote counted, Brazil’s electoral court announced that the soon to be 81-year-old Lula had a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes over opponent Flávio Bolsonaro, giving him 51.8% of the total vote. Bolsonaro quickly refused to concede defeat and asked for the election results to be annulled after an evening of chaos at some polling places that followed a last-minute decision to extend voting by two hours.
Bolsonaro is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula defeated to take the presidency in 2022.
Lula’s triumph bucks a regional trend of victories for right-of-center presidential candidates allied with Trump. It also means Latin America’s largest economy, with a GDP of $2.6 trillion per year, will likely continue defying Trump’s demands, despite the pressure of increased tariffs.
I believe there was cheating; the whole business about the late closing of polling station, along with so many other things, was highly suspicious. Lula also proved to be a piece of shit during his previous terms; on top of that, he’s pro-China, pro-North Korea, pro-Russia, and pro-Chavismo, just a total disaster.
But Bolsonaro should never, ever be (re)elected. His term from 2019 to 2023 was abysmal, and his handling of Covid was like a horror movie. The most sensible thing would have been to choose a third, more rational, sensible and nuanced option, but damn, it seems people just don’t know how to vote, whether here in Latin America or pretty much anywhere else in the world.
Edit and errata: I had a shortcircuit, I was really distracted and tired at that moment; it wasn’t Jair, but Flavio. Still a shit though, and doesn’t change all about Lula.
You always get the most informed takes from the most knowledgable people. In this case, he doesn’t know that these are two different Bolsonaros. Jair Bolsanaro was the previous president. Flavio Bolsonaro is his son and the person that just lost.
Oh, sorry, I just had a shortcircuit.
Still, Flavio shouldn’t never, EVER, be elected too. Being son of Jair and defending (and being defended by) Trump is not a good presentation card.
Thanks for the catch!
Do you have any reason to believe there was cheating other than “I don’t like the guy”?