Lula wins Brazil's presidency back as Ramaphosa calls it a win for the Global South

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won Brazil’s presidency for a fourth, non-consecutive term, taking 51.79% of valid votes in a run-off against Flavio Bolsonaro, who finished on 48.21%. Lula came from behind after trailing in the first round on 4 October, where he took 45.16% to Bolsonaro’s 47.03%, and closed the gap to finish more than 4.4 million votes ahead.

As Sunday World reported on 26 October, President Cyril Ramaphosa congratulated Lula on Monday and described the result as a victory that reaches past Brazil’s borders. Ramaphosa said South Africa would keep working with Brazil in international forums to advance what he called a just and better world order underpinned by solidarity and adherence to international law.

For South African readers, the relationship Ramaphosa is talking about is not abstract. Brazil and South Africa sit together in BRICS, in the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum, in the G77+China and in the G20, and those are the tables where Pretoria argues for reform of global financial institutions and for a bigger say for developing economies. Ramaphosa travelled to Brazil in March this year at Lula’s invitation, a visit aimed at deepening political and trade relations between the two countries.

The margin matters as much as the win. Almost half of valid voters backed Bolsonaro, and right-wing lawmakers retain substantial influence in Brazil’s Congress, so Lula will have to negotiate those divisions to pursue his policy agenda. His campaign emphasised Brazilian sovereignty and his administration’s approach to social welfare, while Bolsonaro offered a conservative alternative.

The result also lands against a shifting political backdrop across Latin America, where right-wing candidates and movements have made gains in several countries.

Flavio Bolsonaro is a senator and the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence after his conviction in a coup plot case. The defeated candidate has refused to accept the outcome and has announced plans to seek the annulment of the election, challenging a last-minute decision to extend voting hours at polling stations that stayed open because of difficulties affecting voters’ access to polling places.

Lula’s comeback is unprecedented in Brazil’s modern presidential elections. It is also the second time he has taken the country’s highest office after a spell out of it, and the fourth time in total.