Lula had 50.8% of votes in contrast with 49.2% for Bolsonaro with 99.1% of voting machines counted, which the Supreme Electoral Court docket mentioned was sufficient to “mathematically outline” the end result of the race.
The vote was a rebuke for the fiery far-right populism of Bolsonaro, who emerged from the again benches of Congress to forge a novel conservative coalition however misplaced help as Brazil ran up one of many worst dying tolls of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lula has vowed a return to state-driven financial progress and social insurance policies that helped raise thousands and thousands out of poverty when he ruled Brazil from 2003 to 2010. He additionally guarantees to fight destruction of the Amazon rainforest, now at a 15-year excessive, and make Brazil a pacesetter in world local weather talks.
His victory consolidates a brand new “pink tide” in Latin America, after landmark leftist victories in Colombia and Chile’s elections, echoing a regional political shift 20 years in the past that launched Lula to the world stage.
A former union chief born into poverty, Lula organized strikes in opposition to Brazil’s navy authorities within the Nineteen Seventies. His two-term presidency was marked by a commodity-driven financial growth and he left workplace with file reputation.
Nonetheless, his Staff Get together was later tarred by a deep recession and a record-breaking corruption scandal that jailed him for 19 months on bribery convictions, which have been overturned by the Supreme Court docket final 12 months.
In his third time period, Lula will confront a sluggish financial system, tighter funds constraints and a extra hostile legislature. Bolsonaro’s allies type the most important bloc in Congress after this month’s basic election revealed the enduring energy of his conservative coalition.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly made baseless claims of electoral fraud and final 12 months brazenly mentioned refusing to simply accept the outcomes of the vote. Electoral authorities are bracing for him to dispute the end result, sources informed Reuters, together with safety preparations in case his supporters take to the streets.
Voting is digital and the outcomes have been introduced inside two hours of polling stations closing at 5 p.m. (2000 GMT).
Lula will take workplace on January 1.