Brazil's leftist presidential candidate Luis Inacio Lula da Silva won over his far-right rival Jair Bolsonaro as the country's political environment begins to shift.
Lula da Silva narrowly won a tightly-contested presidential race, winning with only a slim margin of less than 2%. Bolsonaro clung to a narrow 0.5% lead with 50% of precincts reporting their votes.
Brazil Presidential Election
However, the general trend over the course of the evening was a slow and steady upswing for Lula da Silva as votes trickled in from the northeast. Shortly before 7:00 p.m, with 72% of precincts reporting in, the leftist candidate took his first lead of the night and continued to expand the gap between him and Bolsonaro.
The presidential race was expected to be a difficult battle for Bolsonaro in the second round as Lula da Silva won the first by five points, going up 48% to the far-right's 43%. The leftist nearly won outright on Oct. 2 and Bolsonaro struggled once more after third place Simone Tebet and fourth place Ciro Gomes expressed their support of Lula da Silva in the second round, as per Fox News.
In the wealthier south of Brazil, Bolsonaro turned in a strong showing, winning Sao Paulo and his native Rio de Janeiro by margins of more than 10% over Lula da Silva. However, it was not enough to compensate for the latter's massive turnout in the Northeast of the country, where the Workers Party has long enjoyed dominance.
Lula da Silva won numerous states by margins of 30%, 40%, and even 50%, turning in particularly strong performances in vote-rich states of Bahia, Ceara, and his native Pernambuco. But Bolsonaro flipped the pivotal swing state of Minas Gerais and won by a narrow margin after being backed by the endorsement of Gov. Romeu Zema.
According to the New York Times, Lula da Silva's victory completes his stunning political revival, going from the presidency to prison and back. Furthermore, the leftist official's win put an end to Bolsonaro's turbulent time as the region's most powerful leader.
Lula da Silva vs. Jair Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro has, for years, attracted global attention for policies that accelerated the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and exacerbated the coronavirus pandemic that has killed almost 700,000 people in the region. He also became a major international figure of the far right for his brash attacks on the left, the media, and the country's democratic institutions.
The far-right leader's recent efforts to undermine Brazil's election system also drew particular concern locally and internationally. It also drew worldwide attention to Sunday's vote as a crucial test for one of the world's largest democracies.
The return of 76-year-old Lula da Silva to the political scene comes after a series of corruption allegations that resulted in his imprisonment for 580 days. Later, the sentences against him were annulled by Brazil's Supreme Court, which cleared his path to run for re-election.
Describing his win as his political "resurrection," Lula da Silva said that the opposition tried to bury him alive yet here he is. He added that beginning on Jan. 1, 2023, he will govern the roughly 215 million Brazilians, and not only those that voted for him, CNN reported.