{"id":3298,"date":"2026-10-26T09:03:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T04:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3298"},"modified":"2026-10-26T09:03:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T04:03:45","slug":"lula-wins-fourth-term-in-dramatic-brazil-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3298","title":{"rendered":"Lula wins fourth term in dramatic Brazil comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a historic fourth term on Sunday, the country\u2019s electoral court said, in a shock result that defied polls, precedent and global anti-incumbent sentiment to put \u200bthe brakes on a wave of right-wing election victories across Latin America.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lula, an icon of the global left and the most dominant force in Brazilian politics this century, defeated Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, \u200cthe eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro.<\/p>\n

The senator, who led the election\u2019s first round but lost in the runoff by over 4 million votes, said he would ask for the result to be annulled due to a Sunday Supreme Court ruling that extended voting for two hours.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro\u2019s refusal to concede defeat has echoes of his father\u2019s reaction after losing to Lula in 2022.<\/p>\n

Former President Jair Bolsonaro never accepted his loss and was later given a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup to remain in power.<\/p>\n

The scale of Flavio \u200bBolsonaro\u2019s loss to Lula \u2014 by more than twice his father\u2019s losing margin \u2014 and the fact his campaign also asked for an extension due to rains in the south make any annulment unlikely, analysts said.<\/p>\n

Mario Braga, \u200ba Latin America analyst at the risk consultancy RANE, said there could be right-wing protests in coming days, but \u201cit\u2019s very improbable that it will lead to the reversal \u2060of the result.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Comeback king<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For Lula, his victory marks another comeback in a career full of them. The 80-year-old was jailed from 2018 to 2019 on corruption charges that were later overturned, paving the way for him to beat \u200bJair Bolsonaro in the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a statesman, a giant,\u201d leftist federal lawmaker Erika Hilton, who was with Lula in Sao Paulo during the vote count, told Reuters.<\/p>\n

At times, Lula\u2019s reelection looked like a long shot, as voters soured \u200bon him and his Workers\u2019 Party after years of corruption scandals<\/a> and rising prices<\/a>, while sweeping social changes left the former metalworker and union leader looking out of touch with an increasingly app-based economy and its growing ranks of informal workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Tokyo-listed exchange-traded fund tracking Brazil\u2019s Bovespa index fell nearly 15% in Asia trade on news of Lula\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

Pollsters said better-than-expected turnout had powered Lula to victory. Leonardo Barreto, the co-founder of consultancy Think Policy, said voters had chosen Lula\u2019s familiar embrace over Bolsonaro\u2019s novelty.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople today are choosing between change, with \u200bsome apprehension, and a known path, which guarantees certain rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During the campaign, Lula pointed to a track record of falling poverty and inequality, while unemployment, illiteracy and deforestation hit record lows during his third term.<\/p>\n

He warned Bolsonaro \u200bwould cut welfare spending, backslide on social advances and hand over Brazil\u2019s sovereignty to US President Donald Trump, whose State Department led a campaign<\/a> to get the Bolsonaros back to power.<\/p>\n

Lula\u2019s win deprives Trump of a major addition to what has been a \u200cgrowing bloc of \u2060friendly right-wing Latin American governments that have embraced Washington\u2019s agenda on security and migration.<\/p>\n

Celso Amorim, a former Lula foreign minister, told Reuters the leftist \u201cwould be very important for establishing a point of balance in Latin America. Lula is that balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Late-campaign boost<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lula becomes the first candidate since Brazil\u2019s return to democracy in the 1980s to be elected after finishing second in the first round.<\/p>\n

Previously president from 2003 to 2011, Lula campaigned this year on a potent mix of pragmatism and populism that has shaped his career in national politics for half a century, rolling out a slew of reforms aimed at improving the lives of workers and poor Brazilians.<\/p>\n

These gained steam with late-campaign pledges that ranged from free nationwide \u200bweekend public transport, which has to be formally submitted to \u200bCongress, to a 15% increase in his trademark \u2060welfare program that is already being implemented.<\/p>\n

Lula also championed a constitutional amendment that became Brazil\u2019s biggest labour reform in decades, which passed with wide support in Congress.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Challenges ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Still, Lula\u2019s fourth term could be his most difficult yet, after Brazil elected its most conservative Congress since returning to democracy in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Combined, Bolsonaro\u2019s Liberal Party (PL) and allied parties could \u200bcontrol over 280 seats in the lower house and up to 50 seats in the Senate, enough for comfortable opposition majorities in both chambers.<\/p>\n

That may deepen recent trends \u200bof presidents ceding power to \u2060Congress on the budget, major legislation and key nominations.<\/p>\n

Lula faces an economy that his government forecasts will grow a meager 2.3% next year, adding to fiscal concerns tied to high interest rates and public debt that has risen past 82% of GDP, the highest since the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s critics blame spending, though borrowing costs have driven most of the increase in debt.<\/p>\n

Goldman Sachs said it expects Lula to make modest progress at most to contain spending in a fourth term, as he stays \u2060committed to a \u200bstate-led growth model.<\/p>\n

Surging household debt also concerns economists. Trying to address the issue, Lula rolled out a provisional ban on online betting and \u200bunveiled a new debt relief program during the campaign.<\/p>\n

The incoming right-wing Congress will try to pass structural reforms that favour businesses, experts say, prompting spending cuts that could trigger popular backlash.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a historic fourth term on Sunday, the country\u2019s electoral court said, in a shock result that defied polls, precedent and global anti-incumbent sentiment to put \u200bthe brakes on a wave of right-wing election victories across Latin America. Lula, an icon of the global left and the most dominant force in Brazilian politics this century, defeated Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, \u200cthe eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The senator, who led the election\u2019s first round but lost in the runoff by over 4…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}