Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, often referred to as Lula, was reelected Sunday after the electoral court announced he had 4.4 million votes (51.8 percent) over Flávio Bolsonaro.
The election was watched closely by the Brazilian community on Martha’s Vineyard, where 14 percent of people in Dukes County identify themselves as Portuguese or Brazilian, according to 2020 census data. Some were even able to travel off-Island to Framingham and Malden to cast their votes. According to the Superior Electoral Court’s website, voters in the Boston area heavily favored Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro who remains jailed on a 27-year prison sentence for his role in an attempted coup after the 2022 election, has already refused to concede and asked that the results be annulled.
Just three minutes before polls were scheduled to close, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ruled to keep the polls open for two more hours, which was requested by both candidates because of bus issues and heavy rains, according to the Associated Press (AP). But Bolsonaro, who styled himself after U.S. President Donald Trump, such as casting doubt on the electoral system, now criticizes Zanin, a former lawyer of Lula’s, for the decision.
Lula is an icon of the left in Brazil and member of the Partido dos Trabalhadores and has served time in prison on charges related to a corruption scandal during his first tenure as president, from 2003 to 2010. He was released from prison in 2019 after serving 18 months and has asserted that the charges against him were an attempt to criminalize the left wing in Brazil. The charges against him were annulled by Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court, and he won the presidency over the older Bolsonaro in 2022.
Lula’s reelection is viewed by global political analysts as a deviation from the regional trend of victories for right-leaning Latin American presidential candidates that ally with Trump, according to the AP. Lula’s victory is also viewed as a win for the environment since he hopes to reduce deforestation and make Brazil a leader in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
