Brazilian truckers have taken to the streets to protest after leftist presidential candidate Luis Inacio Lula da Silva won over far-right Jair Bolsonaro by a slim margin as the latter remains silent and has not publicly acknowledged his defeat.
Lula da Silva made a stunning comeback to become the president-elect of the country following a tight run-off race on Sunday. His win marks a shift in the political environment of Latin America's largest country, after four years of being under the rule of Bolsonaro's administration.
Lula da Silva's Win
The 76-year-old leftist politician represents the return of the country to the left and also concludes a triumphant personal comeback for Lula da Silva. He has been facing a series of corruption allegations that lead to his imprisonment for 580 days. The charges against him were later annulled by the Brazilian Supreme Court, which cleared the path for his re-election.
In his statement following his win, Lula da Silva spoke in front of supporters and journalists on Sunday evening, noting that his rivals tried to bury him alive but he stood firm. He also described his victory to become Brazil's next president as his political "resurrection," as per CNN.
The leftist president-elect said that he would govern the country of roughly 215 million Brazilians starting on Jan. 1, 2023. He said that he would be the leader of not only the people who supported him but also those who supported his rivals. He called for not two Brazils, but one country, one people, and one great nation.
Lula da Silva will take the reins of Brazil which has been plagued by gross inequality that is still struggling to stand back from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Between 2019 and 2021, roughly 9.6 million people fell under the poverty line as literacy and school attendance rates fell.
According to the Financial Times, Truckers blocked highways at more than 300 points across the country to protest Lula da Silva's win. More than 24 hours after the declaration that the leftist candidate had won the election, the hard-right president was ignoring appeals by allies to concede and had not appeared in public or made a statement.
Brazilian Truckers Protest
Brazil's top electoral official, Alexandre de Moraes, ordered highway police on late Monday to "take all necessary measures" to clear the truckers' blockades that were disrupting traffic in more than 300 points across the nation. He also threatened to imprison the force's chief if he did not obey the orders.
Truckers are considered a critical group of supporters for the far-right president and have already benefited from lower fuel costs under Bolsonaro's governance. However, there was no sign that other groups were joining the protests and the majority of the country remained quiet after the presidential election.
Bolsonaro's continued silence on the results of the election is raising concern as he has previously cast unfounded doubts about Brazil's voting system. The far-right politician also made combative statements, including that only "God" could remove him from office, making his absence from the public eye even more worrying, BBC reported.
