Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a vocal critic Donald Trump, was reelected Sunday in a result that provides relief to critics of widening U.S. influence in Latin America.
With 100% of the vote counted, Brazil’s electoral court announced that the soon to be 81-year-old Lula had a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes over opponent Flávio Bolsonaro, giving him 51.8% of the total vote. Bolsonaro quickly refused to concede defeat and asked for the election results to be annulled after an evening of chaos at some polling places that followed a last-minute decision to extend voting by two hours.
Bolsonaro is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula defeated to take the presidency in 2022.
Lula’s triumph bucks a regional trend of victories for right-of-center presidential candidates allied with Trump. It also means Latin America’s largest economy, with a GDP of $2.6 trillion per year, will likely continue defying Trump’s demands, despite the pressure of increased tariffs.
You always get the most informed takes from the most knowledgable people. In this case, he doesn’t know that these are two different Bolsonaros. Jair Bolsanaro was the previous president. Flavio Bolsonaro is his son and the person that just lost.
Oh, sorry, I just had a shortcircuit.
Still, Flavio shouldn’t never, EVER, be elected too. Being son of Jair and defending (and being defended by) Trump is not a good presentation card.
Thanks for the catch!