BRASILIA Brazil – Brazils President-elect Luiz Inaacutecio Lula da Silva will be sworn in Sunday in the capital Brasilia and assume office for
Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be sworn in Sunday in the capital, Brasilia, and assume office for the third time, marking the culmination of a political comeback sure to thrill supporters and enrage opponents in a fiercely polarized nation.
But Lula’s presidency is unlikely to be like his previous two mandates, coming after the tightest presidential race in more than three decades in Brazil and resistance to his taking office by some of his opponents, political analysts say.
Lula Da Silva Wins Brazil’s Presidential Runoff Vote
The leftist defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in the Oct. 30 vote by less than 2 percentage points. For months, Bolsonaro had sown doubts about the reliability of Brazil’s electronic vote and his loyal supporters were loath to accept the loss.
Many have gathered outside military barracks since, questioning results and pleading with the armed forces to prevent Lula from taking office.
His most die-hard backers resorted to what some authorities and incoming members of Lula’s administration labeled acts of ‘terrorism’ – something the country had not seen since the early 1980s, and which have prompted growing security concerns about inauguration day events.
‘In 2003, the ceremony was very beautiful. There wasn’t this bad, heavy climate,’ said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo, referring to the year Lula first took office. ‘Today, it’s a climate of terror.’
Tanya Albuquerque, a student, flew from Sao Paulo to Brasilia and had tears in her eyes as she heard local leftists celebrating incoming visitors at Brasilia’s airport. She decided to attend after seeing pictures of Lula’s first inauguration.
‘Maybe we won’t have 300,000 people tomorrow like then; these are different and more divisive times. But I knew I wouldn’t be happy in front of a TV,’ Albuquerque, 23, said on Saturday.
Lula has made it his mission to heal the divided nation.
