In most election night partial counts, Lula da Silva led when he reached 70 percent of the precincts. The former president, however, underperformed the current Brazilian president by nearly ten percentage points in voting intentions.
In his first reaction to this Sunday’s victory, from São Paulo, Lula da Silva began by saying “Thank you for the generosity of the Brazilian people” and recalled that four years ago he was seen as a finished politician in a campaign marked as a “lie”.
“I always thought we were going to win the election, we were going to win the election. This is just a stretch for us,” he said.
The former president, who said he believed nothing happens by chance, recalled that he was ahead of the polls throughout the election campaign.
“To the shame of some, I have 30 more days to go to the streets. I love to campaign, I love to rally” and “it will be important because it will be an opportunity to debate with the president of the republic. Bolsonaro is giving it to me”, said Lula da Silva in a confident tone.
Bolsonaro avoids talking about electoral fraud
The Brazilian president also confirmed the “false” victory of the poll, which put him at only 36% of the voting intention and Lula da Silva with the possibility of winning the first round.
“We won the lie today,” he told reporters at the Palacio da Alvorada: “We have a second round ahead of us.”
156 million Brazilians called to vote
More than 156 million voters were invited to vote in 577,125 electronic voting machines spread across 5,570 cities in the country until 17:00 (21:00 in Lisbon) this Sunday in Brasilia.
In the presidential elections, in addition to Lula and Bolsonaro, voters were also able to vote for Simone Tebet, Ciro Gómez, Luis Felipe de’Villa, Soraya Tronic, Email, Father Gelman, Leonardo Pericles, Sofia Manzano and Vera Lucia.
Ciro Gomez “deeply concerned about threats” to country
In a short statement to his family in Fortaleza, Ciro Gomez said he regretted the “many threats” Brazil faced and asked for more time to think about his own future.
“I have never seen a situation so complex, so challenging and so threatening to our fortunes as a nation,” said the candidate who finished fourth in the first round with three percent of the vote.
“Give me a few more hours to talk to my party, to my friends, to see how I can best serve the country of Brazil,” asked Lula da Silva, the former minister who won the election, before leaving the stage. Sunday and will face current head of state (far-right) Jair Bolsonaro.
Throughout the campaign, Ciro Gómez was highly critical of Lula da Silva, accusing him of corruption, which created votes for the Labor candidate’s supporters.
Simone Debate has promised to declare support for a second round
The candidate, who is trying to replace Labor candidate Lula da Silva (left) and current president Jair Bolsonaro (far right), said “parties need to position themselves as quickly as possible”.
With 4.2 percent, Simone Tebet was supported by the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) and Citizenship.
w/ agencies
“Hardcore explorer. Extreme communicator. Professional writer. General music practitioner. Prone to fits of apathy.”