Lula defeated incumbent Bolsonaro in a runoff. As his victory was officially confirmed, the future Brazilian president wrestled with his emotions. In his speech, the 77-year-old describes the ceremony as a "celebration of true democracy."
Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva broke down in tears at a ceremony to confirm his election victory on Monday. After receiving the official certificate of victory in the presidential runoff at the end of October, the 77-year-old ex-metal worker praised "the courage of the Brazilian people to present this document to someone who has so often been attacked for not having a university degree".
The left-leaning Lula, who was Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, is scheduled to be sworn in on January 1. He had prevailed in the runoff against the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. While Bolsonaro got 49.1 percent, Lula won 50.9 percent of the vote. Lula's success was also remarkable because the ex-president was only released in November 2019 after more than 18 months in prison on controversial corruption charges.
Lula described the ceremony before the Supreme Electoral Court as a "celebration of true democracy." Rarely in Brazil's recent history has democracy been "threatened so much," he said in view of the protests against the election results encouraged by Bolsonaro. After Bolsonaro's election defeat, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters demonstrated in front of military barracks and called on the armed forces to prevent Lula from taking over government affairs.
After the election, Bolsonaro initially did not comment on his defeat. It was only two days later that the right-wing extremist politician signaled his readiness for a peaceful handover of power to Lula, without explicitly admitting his defeat.
