Xinhua News Agency, Brasilia, October 31 (Reporter Bian Zhuodan)Brazil The second round of voting for presidential election ended on the evening of the 30th. The subsequent vote counting results released by the Brazilian High Election Court show that the Labor Party candidate, former president, Lula, narrowly defeated the Liberal Party candidate, current president, Bolsonaro, and was elected the next president. According to the schedule, Lula will be sworn in on January 1, 2023.
On October 30, former President Lula, a candidate for the Labor Party of Brazil's left-wing camp, voted at a polling station at São Paulo . Xinhua News Agency (photo by Rachel Patraso)
Many analysts believe that Lula, who represents the left-wing force, wins the election, means that the new Brazilian government will lean towards the middle and lower classes in economic and social policies, and will also change the color of conservativeism during Bolsonaro's administration in diplomacy. Although Brazil is currently in political polarization and public opinion split, "Lula's return" has made many Brazilian people have more longings and dreams for the development of the country and their own destiny.
reasons for winning the election
This Brazilian general election is unprecedentedly fierce. After Lula and Bolsonaro's previous two votes advanced from the first round of the election, the former's lead over the latter showed a trend of shrinking. The second round of voting results released by the Brazilian High Election Court showed that Lula won 50.9% of the votes and Bolsonaro was 49.1%. The gap of less than two percentage points sets the closest record in history for the second round of the Brazilian election.
Brazilian media and political observers generally believe that Bolsonaro has accumulated a lot of governance issues during his tenure, and Lula's campaign proposal hits the current situation, which is an important reason for Lula's final victory.
Since taking office in January 2019, Bolsonaro has made unremarkable achievements for a long period of time. Brazil's new crown epidemic was once out of control, with the number of deaths ranked second in the world; the inflation rate reached 10.06% in 2021, creating the highest annual growth rate in six years; the average unemployment rate in 2020 reached 13.5%, the highest since 2012; the social security situation continued to deteriorate, and violent incidents occurred frequently in the election year. Although Brazil's economy has begun to show a positive trend recently, this positive news is obviously too late.
On October 30, Brazil's right-wing Liberal Party candidate and current President Bolsonaro talked with supporters before attending the voting at a polling station in Rio de Janeiro . Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Tiancong
The above issues have accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction in Brazilian society, which is objectively conducive to standing in the left-wing camp opposite the government. Lula, who represents the left, has rich political experience and national governance experience. He "prescribes the right medicine" in the election program and puts forward a series of targeted propositions, which has won wide recognition from Brazilian society, especially the middle and lower classes, and the middle and lower classes have become the basic base for Lula to win the election.
In addition, Bolsonaro was criticized for failing to maintain good relations with some important countries in diplomacy and fell into "diplomatic isolation". Lula was mature in diplomacy when she was president, and was recognized internationally, with obvious advantages over Bolsonaro. Zhou Zhiwei, executive director of the Brazil Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Lula is still Brazil's most influential politician at the international level. As soon as the election results were announced, Lula received congratulatory letters from US President Biden and many heads of state of Latin America.
Policy orientation
Brazilian public opinion believes that the future Lula government will be a pragmatic and moderate left-wing government centered on people's livelihood. The main goal of the new government proposed by Lula is to unite the majority of parties and people to reshape Brazil.
The vote rate of this presidential election is almost "half", revealing Brazil's political polarization and public opinion division in recent years. All sectors of Brazilian society are concerned that potential political and social unrest may continue to plague the country for a long time in the future. In response to this situation, Lula advocates the establishment of a broad coalition to unite the "deeply divided" countries.
On October 30, Lula (formerly middle) attended the celebration in St. Paul. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Rachel Patrasso)
In terms of people's livelihood, Lula adheres to the policy orientation of tilting towards the middle and lower classes, focuses on protecting people's rights to food and clothing, health, education and employment, attaches importance to social public affairs, and is committed to narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor in society and promoting social equality.
Economic, Lula believes that the most urgent task is to alleviate inflation , improve the business environment, and achieve economic recovery as soon as possible. At the same time, he attaches great importance to " re-industrialization " and hopes that Brazil will transform to digital economy and green economy. Some analysts pointed out that although Lula repeatedly criticized the neoliberal economic line during the election process, in the actual governance process, Lula was relatively tolerant of some specific practices and market competition in the neoliberal economy, reflecting a pragmatic and flexible attitude.
diplomatically, Lula may change the conservative foreign policy tendency of the Bolsonaro government, promote the strengthening of regional cooperation mechanisms in Latin America, deepen cooperation with countries in BRICS, promote the establishment of a new global governance model, and create a stable and good external environment for the highly outward-oriented Brazilian economy.
Lulla has visited China many times, witnessed China's rapid development, paid attention to China's great achievements in promoting the country through science and education, poverty alleviation, infrastructure construction, etc., and often publicly praised the Communist Party of China's ruling ability. In recent years, the Labor Party has maintained inter-party contacts with the Communist Party of China, and several Labor Party leaders have visited China. Lula recently expressed that she hopes to visit China again and have a deeper understanding of the secrets of China's economic operation. These friendly attitudes also make future China-Pakistan relations worth looking forward to.
