Issued on: 31/10/2022 - 16:20
05:11
Demonstrators burn tires as they block federal roads during a protest the day after the Brazilian presidential election run-off, in Varzea Grande in Mato Grosso state, Brazil, October 31, 2022. © Rogerio Florentino, Reuters
Text by:FRANCE 24
Video by:FRANCE 24
Truckers protested the defeat of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro Monday by blocking national highways. Bolsonaro had yet to concede defeat Monday morning following a tight race, raising fears the far-right nationalist might contest the victory of his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Follow FRANCE 24 for live updates. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
Brazil’s election authority called the race for former leftist leader and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday. Lula won 50.9 percent of the vote to outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro’s 49.1 percent, with a margin of 2 million votes.
About 124 million Brazilians voted in the 2022 presidential election, or nearly 80 percent of the more than 156 million eligible.
As of Monday, Bolsonaro had yet to concede defeat.
7:42pm: Protesters block road to Brazil's Paranagua port
Brazil's Paranagua port authority on Monday said one of the main roads giving access to the port was being blocked by protesters, adding that there was no immediate disruption to cargo movement.
Roadblocks in at least 12 Brazilian states by truckers who support outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro could affect agricultural exports.
6:43pm: Bolsonaro to speak on election result on Monday afternoon, says allied party leader
Outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro will break his silence on the country's presidential election result on Monday afternoon, the acting chief of an allied party said, more than 16 hours after he lost to his adversary Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"In principle, they want him to read a text, but the format is not yet defined," Claudio Cajado said, pointing out that it is also not certain that Bolsonaro will publicly concede defeat.
6:19pm: Brazil's Lula to speak with Biden later on Monday
Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to speak with US President Joe Biden later on Monday, said the head of Lula's Workers Party, a day after he won the country's presidential runoff ousting far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
Biden moved quickly to congratulate Lula on Sunday for his victory in "free, fair and credible elections", according to a White House statement. Bolsonaro has yet to concede.
3:57pm: Brazil's Lula to send reps to COP27 climate summit after election win
Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will send representatives to next month's COP27 United Nations climate summit, allied environmentalist Marina Silva said on Monday, a day after the left-wing former president won a third term.
The congresswoman-elect told Reuters in an interview that Lula would "definitely send broad representation" even if it was not an official delegation ahead of his Jan.1 inauguration.
3:36pm: Stocks rise in volatile session after Lula's win
Brazil's real reversed course to rally 1.6 percent on Monday and stocks followed a similar pattern as leftist candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a presidential election run-off, while a strong dollar weighed on most other emerging market currencies.
The real, among the best performing emerging market currencies this year, recouped early losses of up to 2 percent. The currency is on course to mark a near 4 percent gain in October. Brazil's benchmark stocks index rose 1.3 percent, with mining giant Vale and Itau Unibanco up around 3 percent each. Oil major and privatisation candidate Petrobras however, fell 3.7 percent.
3:25pm Nordic banking powerhouse may lift ban on Brazil bonds after Lula win
The asset management arm of Nordea, one of the biggest banks in the Nordics, on Monday said it may lift a ban on buying Brazilian government bonds previously established over environmental concerns, after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won Brazil's presidential election on Sunday.
Nordea Asset Management's (NAM) head of responsible investing, Eric Christian Pedersen, told Reuters in a statement that the firm is considering whether to lift a prohibition on new government debt purchases instituted in 2019 over concerns about fires in the Amazon rainforest.
NAM has about €237 billion of assets under management, according to its website.
2:45pm: Trucks, protesters block Brazil highways after Bolsonaro rout
Truckers and other protesters on Monday blocked some highways in Brazil in an apparent protest over the electoral defeat of far-right Bolsonaro to leftist Lula da Silva, authorities said.
Burning tires, as well as vehicles such as trucks, cars and vans were blocking several points in the central-western agricultural state of Mato Grosso, which largely supports Bolsonaro, reported the company which manages the highway in the state.
It was not immediately clear if the protests were being organised by a particular group. Brazil has a powerful, loosely organised truckers' movement that is heavily pro-Bolsonaro.
Local media reported road blockages in at least five other states, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)
Text by:FRANCE 24
Video by:FRANCE 24
Truckers protested the defeat of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro Monday by blocking national highways. Bolsonaro had yet to concede defeat Monday morning following a tight race, raising fears the far-right nationalist might contest the victory of his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Follow FRANCE 24 for live updates. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
Brazil’s election authority called the race for former leftist leader and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday. Lula won 50.9 percent of the vote to outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro’s 49.1 percent, with a margin of 2 million votes.
About 124 million Brazilians voted in the 2022 presidential election, or nearly 80 percent of the more than 156 million eligible.
As of Monday, Bolsonaro had yet to concede defeat.
7:42pm: Protesters block road to Brazil's Paranagua port
Brazil's Paranagua port authority on Monday said one of the main roads giving access to the port was being blocked by protesters, adding that there was no immediate disruption to cargo movement.
Roadblocks in at least 12 Brazilian states by truckers who support outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro could affect agricultural exports.
6:43pm: Bolsonaro to speak on election result on Monday afternoon, says allied party leader
Outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro will break his silence on the country's presidential election result on Monday afternoon, the acting chief of an allied party said, more than 16 hours after he lost to his adversary Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"In principle, they want him to read a text, but the format is not yet defined," Claudio Cajado said, pointing out that it is also not certain that Bolsonaro will publicly concede defeat.
03:15
6:19pm: Brazil's Lula to speak with Biden later on Monday
Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to speak with US President Joe Biden later on Monday, said the head of Lula's Workers Party, a day after he won the country's presidential runoff ousting far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
Biden moved quickly to congratulate Lula on Sunday for his victory in "free, fair and credible elections", according to a White House statement. Bolsonaro has yet to concede.
3:57pm: Brazil's Lula to send reps to COP27 climate summit after election win
Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will send representatives to next month's COP27 United Nations climate summit, allied environmentalist Marina Silva said on Monday, a day after the left-wing former president won a third term.
The congresswoman-elect told Reuters in an interview that Lula would "definitely send broad representation" even if it was not an official delegation ahead of his Jan.1 inauguration.
05:41
3:36pm: Stocks rise in volatile session after Lula's win
Brazil's real reversed course to rally 1.6 percent on Monday and stocks followed a similar pattern as leftist candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a presidential election run-off, while a strong dollar weighed on most other emerging market currencies.
The real, among the best performing emerging market currencies this year, recouped early losses of up to 2 percent. The currency is on course to mark a near 4 percent gain in October. Brazil's benchmark stocks index rose 1.3 percent, with mining giant Vale and Itau Unibanco up around 3 percent each. Oil major and privatisation candidate Petrobras however, fell 3.7 percent.
3:25pm Nordic banking powerhouse may lift ban on Brazil bonds after Lula win
The asset management arm of Nordea, one of the biggest banks in the Nordics, on Monday said it may lift a ban on buying Brazilian government bonds previously established over environmental concerns, after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won Brazil's presidential election on Sunday.
Nordea Asset Management's (NAM) head of responsible investing, Eric Christian Pedersen, told Reuters in a statement that the firm is considering whether to lift a prohibition on new government debt purchases instituted in 2019 over concerns about fires in the Amazon rainforest.
NAM has about €237 billion of assets under management, according to its website.
03:54
2:45pm: Trucks, protesters block Brazil highways after Bolsonaro rout
Truckers and other protesters on Monday blocked some highways in Brazil in an apparent protest over the electoral defeat of far-right Bolsonaro to leftist Lula da Silva, authorities said.
Burning tires, as well as vehicles such as trucks, cars and vans were blocking several points in the central-western agricultural state of Mato Grosso, which largely supports Bolsonaro, reported the company which manages the highway in the state.
It was not immediately clear if the protests were being organised by a particular group. Brazil has a powerful, loosely organised truckers' movement that is heavily pro-Bolsonaro.
Local media reported road blockages in at least five other states, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)
Brazil awaits Bolsonaro's next move as Lula faces tough to-do list
Joao Peres, Political Science professor in Rio de Janeiro, speaks to FRANCE 24 as a tense Brazil awaited Jair Bolsonaro's next move Monday. The far-right incumbent remained silent after losing a razor-thin runoff presidential election to veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- who now faces a tough to-do list.
Brazil holds its breath over Bolsonarist reaction as Lula claims razor-thin win
Issued on: 31/10/2022
With less than two percentage points to spare, Brazil’s leftist leader and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday claimed victory over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the country’s tightest election race yet. But the ultra-conservative legacy Bolsonaro is leaving behind could mean that Lula’s biggest challenges still lie ahead as the three-time president takes the reins on January 1.
It proved to be a nail-biter until the end: it wasn’t until 80 percent of the votes had been tallied that Lula began to emerge as the winner of Brazil’s most disputed election on record.
For almost three hours the vote was too close to call, but at around 8pm local time, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) finally issued a partial result that carried a verdict, showing Lula at 50.9 percent and Bolsonaro at 49.1 percent. With some 2 million votes separating the two, Bolsonaro no longer had a mathematical chance to catch up.
Will Bolsonaro concede defeat?
As in the first round, Lula won the backing of Brazil’s poor states in Nordeste (northeast), while Bolsonaro won the blessings of the rich, including in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo.
But Lula’s victory is a far cry from the tidal wave the country’s polling institutes had predicted, and is likely to leave Brazil even more polarised than it was before the election campaign began – pitting the north against the south, the rich against the poor, and conservative against liberal values.
"Some of the big names within Bolsonarism very quickly recognised Lula’s victory. But we don’t know how the army will react, nor Bolsonaro’s supporters, who can occasionally be violent at the local level,” Anaïs Flechet, a historian who specialises in Brazil at the University of Paris-Saclay, said.
So will Bolsonaro, known by the nickname “Tropical Trump”, follow the example of his north American counterpart in the 2020 US elections? All eyes are now on the former military officer and whether he will concede defeat after spending months alleging - without evidence - that the country’s electronic voting system is plagued by fraud and that the courts, media and other institutions have conspired against him. The fact that Brazil’s 13,000 road network unit (PRF) agents spent election day mounting road blocks and barriers across the country suggests that the next few days could be tense.
Everyone is now waiting for Bolsonaro, who so far has remained silent, to comment on the results.
Democracy vs God?
While Lula on Sunday cast his ballot “for democracy”, Bolsonaro laid his political destiny into the hands of God: “God willing, we will be victorious later today,” he said as he voted.
Lula, who served two presidential terms from 2003 to 2010 and is credited with lifting some 30 million Brazilians out of poverty, is set to face fierce opposition on pretty much all fronts, including on education, healthcare and public service. The former unionist’s negotiation skills will be tested to their utmost as he tackles some of Brazil’s most fractious debates, including abortion and gun rights, as well as the exploitation of the Amazon.
“On January 1, 2023, I will govern for 215 million Brazilians, and not just for those who voted for me,” Lula said at his campaign headquarters. “There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people, one great nation.”
But at 77, Lula is as hated by Brazilians as he is adored. And even though he might have defeated Bolsonaro at the ballot, “Bolsonarism” still came out of the 2022 campaign stronger than ever, with the far-right nabbing the majority in Congress.
Shortly after the election results were announced, Carla Zambelli, a Brazilian lawmaker and a close Bolsonaro ally, wrote on Twitter: “I PROMISE you, I will be the greatest opposition that Lula has ever imagined.”
Bolsonaro’s four-year mandate was a chaotic one - marked by the disastrous handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which more than 680,000 Brazilians died, a weak economy and damaging attacks on democratic institutions – but will first and foremost go down in history for its ability to polarise.
More than ever, Bolsonaro divided Brazil into two opposite camps, and Lula’s vow to “unite” them is sure to take the latter to task.
This article has been translated from the original in French.
Issued on: 31/10/2022
With less than two percentage points to spare, Brazil’s leftist leader and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday claimed victory over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the country’s tightest election race yet. But the ultra-conservative legacy Bolsonaro is leaving behind could mean that Lula’s biggest challenges still lie ahead as the three-time president takes the reins on January 1.
It proved to be a nail-biter until the end: it wasn’t until 80 percent of the votes had been tallied that Lula began to emerge as the winner of Brazil’s most disputed election on record.
For almost three hours the vote was too close to call, but at around 8pm local time, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) finally issued a partial result that carried a verdict, showing Lula at 50.9 percent and Bolsonaro at 49.1 percent. With some 2 million votes separating the two, Bolsonaro no longer had a mathematical chance to catch up.
Lula supporters erupted into joy and celebration across the country, but not without trepidation. Since the first round of the elections on October 2, when Bolsonaro largely beat the polls and came out with an unexpectedly strong showing of 43 percent against Lula’s 48 percent, many feared that the incumbent could potentially claim a second straight mandate.
Will Bolsonaro concede defeat?
As in the first round, Lula won the backing of Brazil’s poor states in Nordeste (northeast), while Bolsonaro won the blessings of the rich, including in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo.
But Lula’s victory is a far cry from the tidal wave the country’s polling institutes had predicted, and is likely to leave Brazil even more polarised than it was before the election campaign began – pitting the north against the south, the rich against the poor, and conservative against liberal values.
"Some of the big names within Bolsonarism very quickly recognised Lula’s victory. But we don’t know how the army will react, nor Bolsonaro’s supporters, who can occasionally be violent at the local level,” Anaïs Flechet, a historian who specialises in Brazil at the University of Paris-Saclay, said.
So will Bolsonaro, known by the nickname “Tropical Trump”, follow the example of his north American counterpart in the 2020 US elections? All eyes are now on the former military officer and whether he will concede defeat after spending months alleging - without evidence - that the country’s electronic voting system is plagued by fraud and that the courts, media and other institutions have conspired against him. The fact that Brazil’s 13,000 road network unit (PRF) agents spent election day mounting road blocks and barriers across the country suggests that the next few days could be tense.
Everyone is now waiting for Bolsonaro, who so far has remained silent, to comment on the results.
Democracy vs God?
While Lula on Sunday cast his ballot “for democracy”, Bolsonaro laid his political destiny into the hands of God: “God willing, we will be victorious later today,” he said as he voted.
Lula, who served two presidential terms from 2003 to 2010 and is credited with lifting some 30 million Brazilians out of poverty, is set to face fierce opposition on pretty much all fronts, including on education, healthcare and public service. The former unionist’s negotiation skills will be tested to their utmost as he tackles some of Brazil’s most fractious debates, including abortion and gun rights, as well as the exploitation of the Amazon.
“On January 1, 2023, I will govern for 215 million Brazilians, and not just for those who voted for me,” Lula said at his campaign headquarters. “There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people, one great nation.”
But at 77, Lula is as hated by Brazilians as he is adored. And even though he might have defeated Bolsonaro at the ballot, “Bolsonarism” still came out of the 2022 campaign stronger than ever, with the far-right nabbing the majority in Congress.
Shortly after the election results were announced, Carla Zambelli, a Brazilian lawmaker and a close Bolsonaro ally, wrote on Twitter: “I PROMISE you, I will be the greatest opposition that Lula has ever imagined.”
Bolsonaro’s four-year mandate was a chaotic one - marked by the disastrous handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which more than 680,000 Brazilians died, a weak economy and damaging attacks on democratic institutions – but will first and foremost go down in history for its ability to polarise.
More than ever, Bolsonaro divided Brazil into two opposite camps, and Lula’s vow to “unite” them is sure to take the latter to task.
This article has been translated from the original in French.
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