Brazil’s veteran leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins Presidential election
HY News
31 October, 2022 12:30 pm IST
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Former Brazilian President and veteran leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on October 30 defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in an election that marked a stunning comeback for the leftist leader and the end of the country’s most right-wing government in decades.
It is reported that Lula had 50.8% of votes compared with 49.2% for Mr. Bolsonaro with 99.1% of voting machines counted, which the Supreme Electoral Court said was enough to “mathematically define” the outcome of the race.
This was the country's closest election in over three decades. Just over 2 million votes separated the two candidates with 99.5 per cent of the vote counted. The previous closest race, in 2014, was decided by a margin of 3.46 million votes.
In a speech at a hotel in downtown Sao Paulo, he said, "Today the only winner is the Brazilian people."
“This isn't a victory of mine or the Workers' Party, nor the parties that supported me in campaign. It's the victory of a democratic movement that formed above political parties, personal interests and ideologies so that democracy came out victorious."
Da Silva — the country's former president from 2003-2010 — has promised to restore the country's more prosperous past, yet faces headwinds in a polarised society.
Bolsonaro had been leading throughout the first half of the count and, as soon as da Silva overtook him, cars in the streets of downtown Sao Paulo began honking their horns. People in the streets of Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema neighbourhood could be heard “it turned”.
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