Brazilian leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly defeated President Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election on Sunday that marked a stunning comeback for the leftist former President and the end of Brazil’s most right-wing government. According to reports, Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court declared Lula the next president, with 50.9% of votes versus 49.1% for Bolsonaro.
Brazil, a South American democracy remained under tangible stress over the past years mainly due to the highly polarized and hyper-nationalist politics of the ruling right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. The Populist far-right Bolsonaro incited radicalized and self-centered behavior in his supporters and created hatred for his opponents to promote his politics. He turned his social liberal party into a hard conservative group and supported the evangelical ideology which further deepened the division between the liberals and the religiously orthodox. The so-called revolutionary vehemently crushed his opponents on the charges of misconduct and corruption and introduced multiple amendments in the constitution in his support but the Brazilian judiciary effectively neutralized his populist doctrine and restricted the efforts to radicalize the core fabric of Brazilian society.
Interestingly, the Brazilian ruler hept an immense sense of self-superiority and ego with respect to his rivals therefore he vowed to achieve a clean sweep victory in the presidential context and refused to accept his defeat well before the election. Apparently, the vote was a rebuke to the fiery far-right populism of Bolsonaro, who emerged from the back benches of Congress to forge a novel conservative coalition but lost the support of the public as Brazil ran up one of the worst death tolls of the coronavirus pandemic in the past two years. So far, the losing candidate did not react to his defeat however Bolsonaro’s opponents and the world fear a storm of accusations from him, allegations of election fraud, and claims of an imaginary conspiracy agaisnt him.
The winning coalition under Lula Da Silva intends to reunite a divided country and desires that Brazilians remove the walls of hate and division, respect each others political rights and play a constructive role in political process instead of bias behavior that hurts national unity and interests. Lula promised to represent the 215 million Brazilians and vowed to make Brazil one country and one nation. Lula has vowed a return to state-driven economic growth and social policies that helped lift millions out of poverty besides the preservation of Brazil’s famous Amazon rainforest, revival of Brazil’s return to the South American community, and active participation in the global climate change agenda.
Apparently, the leaders across the world have some bitter compulsions and character traits which incite them to take a unique line from their competitors to attract voters to pave the way to the high offices. Over the decades, nationalism, ethnic polarisation and religious fanaticism had been the most effective tools of the crook politicians and clerics for moulding public opinion in their favor. Historically, nationalism witnessed a boom across the globe in the past decade and several far-right leaders grabbed success through idealistic manifestos. But most of the populist leaders could not comprehend their imaginative agendas and preyed to the public frustration. Presently, there had been a fundamental political shift in politics after leftists grabbed landmark victories in some countries in Latin America and the masses across the world started re-electing the leftist to reduce thier miseries and satisfy their disappointment.
