LULA DA SILVA. The left-wing politician and former head of state and the poll favorite for the 2022 presidential election in Brazil. Lula uses the memory of his previous mandates to win against Jair Bolsonaro.
[Mis à jour le 24 août 2022 à 15h51] Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is aiming for a third presidential term in Brazil and is on track according to the polls. Opinion polls continue to give him the advantage ahead of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro, but the lead is not enough. The leader and candidate of the Workers’ Party back in politics wants to widen the gap until the ballot on October 2 and 30, 2022 and does not spare his attacks against his main competitor positioned on the far right and compared to a “bad copy of Trump”.
When portraying the portrait of his opponent, Lula da Silva describes a man who “lied, spread fake news, challenged institutions” betting on Jair Bolsonaro’s unfavorable dynamic. The one who has already been twice at the head of Brazil does not fail to remind voters of the good memories of his years as president, from 2003 to 2010, during which his popularity had climbed to 87%. But the left-wing presidential candidate knows that he must project himself and seizes a new opportunity to stand out from Jair Bolsonaro and seduce the electorate by setting the objective of stopping deforestation. A measure that promises to be central in the presidential debate on ecology and in the program of Lula da Silva which convinces on the social side but has yet to prove itself on the economic side.
What do the polls predict for Lula in the 2022 presidential election in Brazil?
All the polls for the Brazilian presidential election give pride of place to Lula da Silva. The August opinion poll carried out by the institute Datafolha is no exception to the rule and once again propels the left-wing candidate in the lead with 47% of the voting intentions against 32% for Jair Bolsonaro. Still, the gap between the two contenders for the presidency has narrowed in a few months from 21 to 15 points. A few weeks before the election, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must maintain his lead until 2 and 30 October.
The Lula-Bolsonaro duel in the 2022 presidential election
They are the two main candidates for the 2022 presidential election in Brazil and the embodiment of the opposition between the coalition of leftist forces and the extreme right. Luiz Inàcio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro have been fighting a duel since the start of the campaign and there is no shortage of attacks and spades between them. Recently, the candidate of the Workers’ Party put his adversary at odds, saying he was “convinced that in Brazil the result of the elections will be respected without discussion”. An allusion to the outgoing president’s virulent criticism of the reliability of electronic voting and the possible fraudulent outcome of the vote. Jair Bolsonaro’s speech implied that he could challenge the election result if he wins. Since then, the Head of State has assured that he will respect the vote regardless of the winner of the election.
Lula and Bolsonaro also clash through their program and the left-wing candidate has invested in ecological subjects, deforestation in the front line. He promised to work for a better environmental policy following the objective of 0% deforestation when under his opponent’s mandate “the average annual deforestation in the Amazon has increased by 75% compared to the previous decade. ” according The world. Lula also promised to “restore international relations” especially with Latin American countries where left-wing political elections such as in Chile or Colombia “show that the Latin American people no longer want fascists at the head of the continent. “.
Lula, president of Brazil for a third time?
The victories of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the presidential elections of 2002 and 2006 had been without appeal with each time more than 60% of the votes collected in the second round. After two consecutive terms, the politician had no choice but to give way to another candidate to represent the left, but in 2022 he returns to the forefront of the political scene and hopes to win a third presidential election. The mandate of his predecessor, much criticized, could be favorable to him and Lula knows that there is a shot to play. “Defeat this guy [Bolsonaro, ndlr] is a matter of honor for the Brazilian people! […] We will make Rio happy again”, he assured the crowd on July 7 in Rio according to The world. During his meeting, the left-wing politician had long condemned Jair Bolsonaro’s policy, using easy arguments such as the management of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil causing “650,000 deaths” and others supposed to recall the good years of the Brazil ruled by the left: “I doubt that, in all its history, Rio has ever received so much money as when the PT was in power!”.
Who is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva? Biography
Inácio Lula da Silva is known as the first left-wing Brazilian president under the New Republic, a regime in place since 1985. Elected for the first time on October 27, 2022 and reappointed as president in October 2006, the politician has installed in power on January 1, 2003 and remained there until January 1, 2011. Lula is a metalworker by profession and got involved in politics by participating in the founding of the Workers’ Party (PT) inspired by socialism, in 1980. Prior to this, he had been an important player in Brazilian trade unionism since 1975, to the point of having been repeatedly confronted with the power of the military dictatorship. He represented the left party in various presidential elections and after three failures in 1989, 1994 and 1998, he was elected on his fourth attempt.
Under Lula’s tenure, Brazil’s economic situation improved, in particular thanks to the austerity policy launched by his predecessors, which achieved its objectives in 2003. On the other hand, it is to Lula da Silva that Brazil owes social progress such as the creation of “Bolsa Familia” family allowances, a pillar of the fight against poverty. He also launched programs to make medicines and basic foodstuffs accessible to the poorest. Several investments to improve living conditions in the favelas and develop housing assistance are also his work.
After his two terms and while he was appointed minister by President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, Lula is suspected of corruption and money laundering. Doubts which lead to the suspension of his mandate as minister by the courts. Two years later, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sentenced to twelve years in prison for corruption in the Petrobras case, named after the oil company involved in the scandal, by judge Sergio Moro. Lula is also stripped of his right of eligibility. In 2021, the Supreme Federal Court annuls the conviction for formal defect and the politician recovers his rights which allows him to return to politics.