The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will turn 80 next week, confirmed this Thursday that he intends to run in the elections that Brazil will hold in October 2026 to win a fourth term. The leftist was already flirting with the idea of re-election, but never until now had he been so categorical. If he wins, he would govern until the end of 2030 and would leave the presidency at the age of 85.
The most important Brazilian politician of the 21st century has made the announcement on the other side of the world, more than 16,000 kilometers from home, during a state visit to Indonesia that has just begun. “I want to tell you that I am going to turn 80, but you can be sure that I have the same energy as when I was 30. And I am going to run for a fourth term in Brazil,” Lula stated in Jakarta, during his appearance before the press alongside his counterpart, Prabowo Subianto.
Indonesia is an important ally of the Global South that also belongs to the BRICS and is a valuable market in these times of tariff war with the United States. The Brazilian president will travel from there to Malaysia to participate in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit. Lula’s Government is working to hold, parallel to the summit, the long-awaited face-to-face meeting between Lula and President Donald Trump on Sunday. The two spoke by phone a couple of weeks ago and the Brazilian asked him to eliminate the 50% tariffs with which he has penalized exports.
In recent months, Lula has been making clear his intention to seek a fourth term despite his age. The fears of repeating the disaster of the American Joe Biden and his late withdrawal seem forgotten. The president of Brazil generally enjoys good health and exercises, as he likes to show on social networks. But ten months ago he had to undergo emergency surgery for a brain hemorrhage, the result of a domestic fall. It was his third time under the knife in this term. In 2022, a nodule in his larynx was removed, years after overcoming throat cancer, and in 2023 he was fitted with a hip prosthesis.
Lula hopes to reiterate in person to Trump next Sunday, the eve of his 80th birthday, his request that he withdraw the 50% tariffs he imposed on Brazil in August. This Thursday in Indonesia, the Brazilian president has returned to the fray with one of the issues that touches a nerve for Trump, the possibility of turning his back on the dollar: “Indonesia and Brazil do not want a second Cold War,” Lula declared. “We want free trade. What’s more: both Indonesia and Brazil are interested in discussing the possibility of trading between us using our currencies,” he noted, the newspaper reports. State.
Trump argued, when imposing the highest tax in the world on Brazil, that former President Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of the American and leader of the opposition, was the victim of a witch hunt. The Supreme Court turned a deaf ear to this formidable pressure and on September 11, it sentenced Bolsonaro to 27 years (24 in prison and three in detention) for leading a coup d’état to cling to power in 2022. The conspiracy included plans to kill Lula, the legitimate winner of the elections.
He great rate of Trump had a boomerang effect. He boosted Lula in the polls while Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest and disqualified, was losing popular support. Thanks to this situation, Lula is experiencing a sweet moment after a serious popularity crisis at the beginning of this year. Furthermore, neither the Workers’ Party nor the left have a candidate that even comes close to the electoral strength that Lula demonstrates in the polls. The veteran politician has never allowed another leader to emerge who could overshadow him.
Lula, a metallurgist and trade unionist before entering politics, founded the Workers’ Party in the 1980s along with an alliance of unions, grassroots Christians and intellectuals. After several failed attempts, he won his first presidential elections and governed Brazil for two consecutive terms (2003-2011), with the fight against poverty as his main banner. Five years later, the PT was evicted from power through the impeachment to President Dilma Rousseff. During the long decade that he was away from power, Lula lived the most bitter moment of his political life: he was imprisoned for a year and a half, convicted of corruption in a case that, years later, was annulled by the Supreme Court.
In 2022, having just turned 77, he won a third term by defeating the far-right Jair Bolsonaro in the closest elections in Brazilian history. He won by less than two points and without a parliamentary majority. In any case, it culminated in a spectacular personal political resurrection that brought the left back to power. And his intention is to prolong his political career for another five years.
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