Lula Wins

Countercurrents | October 31, 2022

After enduring lawfare , jail, and persecution, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was once again elected president in Brazil.

Former president Lula da Silva has clinched victory over his right-wing rival Jair Bolsonaro in a tightly contested second round of Brazilian election on Sunday. The country’s election authority announced Lula’s victory with 50.90% of the vote to Bolsonaro’s 49.10%.

At 00:18 (local time) this Monday, October 31, the Superior Electoral Court of Brazil confirmed on its website the closure of the count in one hundred percent of the 472,075 polling stations open in the country for the second round of the elections in which the presidency was defined.

The website of the Superior Electoral Court reported an attendance at the polls of 79.41% (124,252,796) of voters and an abstention of 20.59% (32,200,558). 118,552,353 valid votes (95.41%), 3,930,765 invalid votes (3.16%) and 1,769,678 blank votes (1.43%) were counted.

President Lula!

Thousands took to the streets to celebrate as Lula, the candidate of the Workers’ Party of Brazil, defeated Jair Bolsonaro in one the most crucial elections in the country’s history

Peoples Dispatch | October 30, 2022

Thousands took to the streets of Brazil to celebrate as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT) was elected president on Sunday, October 30. With almost 50.9% of the votes, Lula, a trade unionist who was also president from 2003-2010, defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party who got around 49.1% in the run-off election. Lula is set to be in office from 2023-2027.

The second round of the presidential election was held after neither candidate managed to obtain the necessary 50% plus one vote in the first round held on October 2. Elections were also held for the post of Governor in 12 States. Around 156 million Brazilians were eligible to vote.

The results mark a remarkable comeback for Lula who just a few years ago was in jail on corruption charges which were later overturned. His campaign for this election was driven by the left, people’s movements, trade unions, and radical and progressive forces across the country.

Defeated, Bolsonaro isolates himself, cancels interviews and does not respond even to close advisors

“Bolsonaro doesn’t want to receive anyone,” aides say after Lula’s presidential election victory

Brasil de Fato | October 31, 2022

Caption: Ex-captain left his official residence, the Alvorada Palace, to travel to Granja do Torto—Flickr/Beto Barata

President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro, who was just defeated in the elections, isolated himself after the confirmation of the victory of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on October 30. The former captain canceled a press statement at the Alvorada Palace, in the capital of Brasília, right at the beginning of the vote count.

According to Globo, “Bolsonaro does not want to receive anyone.” The report continues, “ministers and deputies who tried to visit him this Sunday after the results of the polls were informed that the president does not want to see anyone at this time, not even his closest allies.”

The World Rejoices Over Lula Da Silva’s Victory in Brazil

teleSUR | October 31, 2022

Lula da Silva, Brazil, Oct. 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @LuchoXBolivia

On Sunday, governments and citizens of Europe, Africa, Asia and America enthusiastically experienced Lula da Silva’s victory in the presidential elections.

His presidency will mark Brazil’s return to international collaboration for the resolution of common problems such as the struggle against climate change.

UNITED STATES: President Joe Biden greeted the Brazilian democratic process just 40 minutes after Lula’s victory in elections that he described as “free, fair and reliable.”

SPAIN: President Pedro Sanchez said that Brazilians have decided to “bet on progress and hope” and that he will work with Lula “for social justice, equality and against climate change.”

Lula Consolidates Political Alliances Before Ballot in Brazil

teleSUR | October 06, 2022

Workers’ Party (PT) presidential candidate Lula da Silva, Brazil, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @PrensaLatina_cu

“I will vote in favor of a history of struggle for democracy and social inclusion. I will vote for Lula,” Brazil’s former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso said.

On Thursday, Brazilian parties and politicians expressed their support for the Workers’ Party (PT) presidential candidate Lula da Silva in the second round scheduled for October 30.

Gilmar Mauro: “Defeating neo-fascism in Brazil is fundamental”

The national leader of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement spoke about the work needed by left and progressive sectors within Brazil and globally to defeat the far right and save humanity

Peoples Dispatch | October 06, 2022

Days after the first round of elections in Brazil, Gilmar Mauro, of the national board of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement spoke to Peoples Dispatch about the challenges ahead for people’s movements in Brazil to secure the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party of Brazil.

Peoples Dispatch: It has been a couple of days after the first round of the Brazilian elections. Can you give an overview of what happened in the presidential elections, and also at the federal legislative level?

Gilmar Mauro: With the elections, from the first moment, we said it would be a war, a war metaphorically speaking. A war to win the elections, a war to be sworn in, a war to make a people’s government. Lula received a lot of votes, although there was an expectation that he could win in the first round, with voter opinion polls indicating this.

It didn’t happen, but it came very close to a victory in the first round, which, of course, creates good conditions for a victory in the second round. Although no such victory is a given.

The Stakes in Brazil’s Election Couldn’t Be Higher

Francisco Dominguez

Countercurrents | August 26, 2022

Ahead of October’s election, with leftist Lula leading the polls, fears are rising of a Bolsonaro coup – meaning it’s the entirety of Brazil’s democracy at stake.

After four years of a right-wing Bolsonaro government, Brazilians will vote for a new president on 2 October 2022. Former president Lula—currently high in the polls—is confronting an increasingly delirious incumbent, who appears to have threatened violent unconstitutional action should he lose.

Bolsonaro’s victory came two years after the impeachment of Workers’ Party president Dilma Rousseff in 2016, the first woman to be president. The Workers’ Party (aka Partido dos Trabalhadores, or PT) had held office since 2003.

The period 2010-2016 was dominated by the ‘credit crunch’ crisis that sent the world into turmoil, with a generalised economic contraction, huge indebtedness in the advanced economies, and a considerable reduction in the consumption of raw materials. Brazil was badly hit. By 2015 GDP had declined by three percent, inflation was high (10 percent), and public debt went through the roof to 63 percent of GDP, making it tough for the government to maintain its poverty-eradication social policies.

US influence in Latin America is on the decline

Petro’s victory has meant the biggest setback for US influence on the continent

Jesus Inojosa

Últimas Noticias | August 14, 2022

The victory of Gustavo Petro in Colombia and his inauguration as President of the New Granada nation has set off alarms in the United States, where the possible end of the so-called “Washington influence” in Latin America is seen.

“It is time for a new international convention that accepts that the war on drugs has utterly failed, that it has left a million Latin Americans murdered, most of them Colombians, and that it leaves 70.000 North Americans dead from drug overdoses every year; none produced in Latin America”.

These words spoken by Petro During his inauguration speech this Sunday, he directly questions US policy in the neighboring country with the so-called “Plan Colombia”, which could mean the possibility of ending this agreement that has allowed the US to install no less than nine military bases in Colombian territory and guarantee the free action of officials of the DEA, the CIA and its Army, as well as the implementation of the extraterritoriality of its laws in this nation.

Lula da Silva, Frei Betto, Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon and 400 Progressive Leaders Write Open Letter to Joe Biden: Let Cuba Live!

They stress there is no justification for the United States to continue treating the Cuban people as a national security threat.

teleSUR | July 23, 2021

Citizens take part in a rally to reject U.S. blockade against Cuba, Toronto, Canada, July 19, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @ONCommunists

They stress there is no justification for the United States to continue treating the Cuban people as a national security threat.

On Friday, over 400 artists, politicians, intellectuals, and international activists will send a letter to President Joe Biden demanding that he end the blockade against Cuba and improve bilateral relations.

With Lula’s conviction overturned, it is time to recover democracy in Brazil

LULA FREE!

Peoples Dispatch | March 11, 2021

Daniel Giovanaz, reporter with Brasil de Fato, talks to Peoples Dispatch about the overturning of all convictions in former Brazilian president Lula da Silva’s case. He talks about the case, the impact the convictions had on the Brazilian elections in 2018 and on Brazilian society, how the mainstream media’s coverage impacted the image of Lula and his party, and what this step could mean for the country’s future.