If the predictions of all the polls published even before he officially announced that he would run in these elections come true, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will once again become president of Brazil as of this Sunday.
Lula already made good the forecasts and won in the first round with around six million votes more than his rival, Jair Bolsonaro, whom the polls underestimated and achieved more than expected. After that, the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) rushed to add to his candidacy the support of the third way represented by Ciro Gomes, but especially Simone Tebet.
Despite the reproaches and even in the case of Gomes some resentment towards Lula, he even called him a fascist, it was an open secret that both would end up supporting him because neutrality or in the worst case his support for Bolsonaro would have meant political suicide.
Lula has the support of even conservative Brazilian ex-presidents, such as Fernando Henrique Cardoso, José Sarney and Fernando Collor de Mello, without forgetting that of leaders of the European left. A favor that the PT has used to show how isolated Brazil has been so far under Bolsonaro’s rule.
As he did in the first round, Lula has emphasized that this Sunday’s appointment is not a question of two men, nor of two parties, but of democracy against fascism. Bolsonaro’s coup rhetoric has been definitive for sectors traditionally opposed to the PT to have decided to opt for the former union leader.
His objective has been to build a moderate profile, capable of attracting the center electorate and distancing himself from the ghosts of communism that Bolsonarism stirs up, and to this end he has added his former rival, Geraldo Alckmin, as a running mate. His last gesture has been to reach out to his rivals. «There are no more bolsonaristas or lulistas. The elections are over and we have a country,» he said.
During his previous term (2003-2010), Lula enjoyed great popularity among the working classes and lower income classes after managing to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, but also among the markets and banks themselves, who saw an opportunity in the commodities boom.
That period of abundance and prosperity was clouded from 2011 onwards, when the continuous corruption scandals meant his political death for at least 580 days, the time he spent in jail after being accused -later proved to be unjust- of having participated in a scheme through which dozens of politicians and businessmen profited.
The former Brazilian president has the favor of broad layers of society, such as young people, the unemployed, lower income families, students, women, and even Catholics would vote for him, while evangelicals, a powerful group in Brazil, would opt for the far right represented by Bolsonaro.
If Lula wins the elections he will have to deal with one of the most conservative congresses in Brazil’s democratic history. Bolsonarist forces dominate the House, with Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL) having the largest presence. A major challenge for the former union leader, who will have to reach agreements to fulfill electoral promises such as increasing social programs and greater environmental controls.
