In the end, the election victory was narrower than expected – and yet clear enough to remove any doubt: Lula da Silva is the rightful winner of the presidential election in Brazil, with a lead of more than two million votes. A complaint makes no sense, certainly not a recount by the military. Democracy in the fifth largest country in the world remains alive.
It’s bad enough to have to emphasize all of this, but incumbent Jair Bolsonaro tried to the last to undermine the rules of the game of democracy – similar to his role model Donald Trump. That he—a fan of Trump, Putin, Orban, and other authoritarian leaders—failed is perhaps the most important result of this election. Only the coming days and weeks will show whether he will stick to creating a peaceful transition. While all the presidents and opposition politicians immediately congratulated Lula, Bolsonaro kept silent on election night. He was said to have gone to sleep.
In his victory address to the nation, Lula da Silva called for peace, reconciliation, and charity. And, without explicitly naming Bolsonaro, reference was made to his legacies: hate, violence, arming the people, misery, poverty. Bolsonaro leaves behind a divided country that he created in the first place by spreading hate and making lies and manipulation the core of his communications. Lula countered him in his victory speech – a bit too optimistically: “There are not two Brazils. Let’s reconcile.”
Lula has difficult tasks ahead of him – not just a political opponent who will continue disinformation and hate campaigns in order to return to power. Unlike 20 years ago, Brazil is in a difficult economic situation. Poverty has risen, inflation is high, the budget gap is huge, commodity prices will not ensure a boom like Lula experienced during his first term in office. The social programs he promised have to be paid for, investments in education, culture, environmental protection and the ailing infrastructure have to be financed first.
However, if anyone can do it, then 77-year-old Lula da Silva, who is not only unchallenged in his own camp – unlike Biden, for example – but has also approached political opponents in the past and shown himself to be a pragmatist. He is neither a dogmatic leftist, nor a true socialist, nor an obstinate buck.
Perhaps the most important message for the world, next to the victory of democracy: The Amazon rainforest has its old ally back. In the evening, Lula spoke of the clear goal: “zero deforestation”. He will not succeed, especially since deforestation rates were also far too high during his presidency. But it’s a sign to climate activists and leaders and the United Nations: If you want (and pay), let’s work together to save the world’s largest rainforest.