Lula Stages Historic Comeback to Beat Flávio Bolsonaro in Brazil’s Presidential Poll.
With nearly 99 per cent of votes counted this morning, the 80-year-old leftist received 51.75 per cent of the vote to his 45-year-old rival’s 48.25 per cent.
Lula narrowly lost the first round of the election to Bolsonaro in early October, casting his political future into doubt and plunging progressive Brazilians into three weeks of despair.
Never, since the return of democracy in the 1980s, has the first round runner-up won the second vote, the Guardian UK reported.
But Lula did precisely that on Sunday, prompting joyous scenes on the streets of São Paulo, where he had been following the count, and at the hotel where he was watching the count. As the result was confirmed, Reginaldo Lopes, a key Lula ally, told the Guardian: “I feel incredible … This is Brazil telling the world that the extreme right is fascist, that the extreme right is against black people, is against the poor, against the state, against gay people … We are going to reorganise the democratic forces (in this country).” The incumbent, who had lost by 2.2 million votes three weeks ago, has now won by 4.3 million. The 81-year-old leftist appears to have made up much of the difference through what his allies had identified as his main opportunity: persuading his voters to turn out. After a record abstention rate of 21.08 per cent in the first round, which disproportionately affected Lula voters because they tend to live farther from polling stations, the rate fell to 19.21 per cent.
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