Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Elected as Brazil`s Next President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the seat by attaining 50.9% of the votes cast compared to 49.1% for Bolsonaro. Da Silva will now be sworn-in for a four-year term on Jan. 1 2023.

It is believed that during Brazil's military dictatorship, which ran from 1964 to 1985, Bolsonaro, 67, a populist in the image of former U.S. President Donald Trump, served as an army captain.

He also appointed former officers to his cabinet. He regularly questioned the accuracy of Brazil's electronic voting machines and the validity of the election, and he made suggestions that if he lost, he might not recognize the results.

Additionally, reports say that that was the country’s tightest election since its return to democracy in 1985, and the first time that a sitting president failed to win reelection. Just over 2 million votes separated the two candidates; the previous closest race, in 2014, was decided by a margin of roughly 3.5 million votes.

The highly polarized election in Latin America’s biggest economy extended a wave of recent leftist victories in the region, including Chile, Colombia, and Argentina.

Kenya`s president William Ruto Congratukated the newly Elected president Lula and promised to have a smooth working relationship together.

Congratulations to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on your election victory. Kenya looks forward to closer relations with Brazil for the prosperity of our citizens. pic.twitter.com/2jX4KJ3pu7

— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) October 31, 2022

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehban Sharif also congratulated the newly elected president and wished him well.

I extend my congratulations to H.E. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva @LulaOficial on his election as President of Brazil. I wish him great success & look forward to working with him to enhance bilateral relations b/wour two countries. We share consensus on the dangers of climate change.

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) October 31, 2022