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Karah Rucker Anchor/Reporter/Editor
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Politics

Da Silva wins Brazilian presidential election; Bolsonaro yet to concede

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Karah Rucker Anchor/Reporter/Editor
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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva picked up a tight victory in the Brazilian presidential election after a runoff over the weekend, narrowly beating out incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by less than 2% of the vote. It was the country’s tightest election since its return to democracy in 1985, and the first time that a sitting president failed to win re-election.

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.

“Today the only winner is the Brazilian people,” da Silva said in a speech Sunday evening at a hotel in downtown Sao Paulo. “It’s the victory of a democratic movement that formed above political parties, personal interests and ideologies so that democracy came out victorious.”

Winning the Brazilian presidential election marked a shocking comeback for da Silva. The leftist candidate served as president from 2003-2010 before being jailed for 580 days for corruption and money laundering. His convictions were later annulled by Brazil’s top court, which ruled the presiding judge had been biased and colluded with prosecutors.

“I send my congratulations to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following free, fair, and credible elections,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday. “I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead.”

The Brazilian presidential election results mirrored the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, with Bolsonaro taking an early lead before da Sillva pulled ahead later on. When that happened cars in the streets of downtown Sao Paulo began honking their horns. People in the streets of Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema neighborhood could be heard shouting, “It turned!”

As of Monday morning, Bolsonaro had yet to publicly concede or react in any way. His campaign made repeated — unproven — claims of possible electoral manipulation before the votes were counted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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WHILE WE ARE EIGHT DAYS AWAY FROM OUR MIDTERM RACES BEING DECIDED BY VOTERS…
THE PEOPLE OF BRAZIL HELD A HIGHLY CONTESTED PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF ELECTION THIS WEEKEND…WITH A RAZOR-THIN RESULT.
Luis Inacio Lula da Silva WILL BE BRAZIL’S NEXT PRESIDENT…BEATING OUT RIGHT-WING INCUMBENT JAIR BOLSONARO.
THE MARGIN OF VICTORY IS LESS THAN TWO PERCENT OF THE VOTE.
BRAZIL MAKING THE MAJOR SHIFT FROM CONSERVATIVE RULE TO A LEFTIST AGENDA ALIGNING WITH OTHER SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES.
LULA DA SILVA IS NO STRANGER TO THE POSITION OR TO CONTROVERSY.
HE SERVED AS PRESIDENT FROM 2003 TO 2010.
AND PREVIOUSLY SERVED 19 MONTHS IN JAIL ON CORRUPTION CHARGES.
WHILE THERE’S BEEN SPECULATION ON WHETHER BOLSONARO WILL CONCEDE…
HE SAID FRIDAY HE WOULD ACCEPT THE ELECTION RESULTS.
SIMILAR TO WHAT’S HAPPENING IN OUR COUNTRY AHEAD OF OUR OWN ELECTION DAY…
THE SECURITY OF AN ELECTION SYSTEM HAS BEEN SCRUTINIZED LARGELY BY RIGHT WING PARTIES.