It was left-wing leader Lula da Silva who won the presidential election in Brazil. Fighting poverty and saving the rainforest are high on his agenda, but the election victory was narrow and it is a deeply divided nation that he will try to unite after a tough election campaign to say the least against the incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro.
– I want work and food for everyone and I know that only Lula can deliver that, says Ana Paula, bank employee.
Lula da Silva calls for peace and unity in a victory speech after Sunday’s presidential election in Brazil, where he narrowly won. Poverty alleviation and the rainforest are high on the agenda in the coming years.
– Today we tell the world that Brazil is back, he said.
After several hours of nail-biting vote counting, Brazil’s electoral authority was able to declare challenger Lula da Silva the winner late Sunday with 50.9 percent of the vote. The incumbent president, the controversial far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro, received 49.1 percent. 124 million voters went to the polls out of about 156 million eligible voters.
Bolsonaro has yet to make a speech admitting defeat, but his voters are already talking about the election being stolen.
See what voters in Brazil are saying about the election, in the player above.