“Starting on January 1, 2023, I will govern for the 215 million Brazilians, not just the ones who voted for me. There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people, one great nation,” says Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, elected Brazil’s president for the third time after a stunning comeback, following a tight run-off race on Sunday.
After 580 days in prison, he was elected winner with a slim margin of 50.8 per cent against 49.2 per cent for Jair Bolsonaro, a difference of just 1.9 million votes out of an electorate of 156 million.
Among voters in Australia, Lula won with a larger margin, 59.6% of the votes against 35.5% for Jair Bolsonaro. He had a wide lead in the five cities where the vote was taken: Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, makes his first speech as president-elect in the capital of Sao Paulo Credit: Suamy Beydoun/AP
Dr Deborah Barros Leal Farias is a Brazilian-born Senior Lecturer at UNSW Sydney's School of Social Sciences. She researches Brazilian policy, both domestic and international.
Although Brazil elections are finally over, Ms Barros says that a strong ‘Bolsonarism’ movement has been created.
“It is like Trumpism, it is not because Trump was defeated that everything he represented is also gone,” she told SBS Portuguese, alluding to the always present comparison between Bolsonaro, known as the ‘Trump of the Tropics’.
Brazilians in Sydney came out in force to vote for Lula. Credit: Daniel Paranayba
“It is a complicated phenomenon. Take the Trump out of ‘Trumpism’ and you don’t have the end of it. Take the Bolsonaro out of the picture, will this be the end of right-wing radicalism? Not necessarily.”
According to Ms Barros, this is a force that is here to stay. There is now in Brazil a unified conservative group.
If the Lula government puts food on the table [where there are 33 million facing hunger] and more jobs, we may have 25% that would never switch to Lula anyway.Dr Deborah Barros Leal Farias, UNSW Sydney's School of Social Sciences
Ms Barros says that it is important to show to the country people that Lula will not be shutting down churches, ordering abortions, creating unisex bathrooms and everything else the Bolsonaro campaign accused him of doing, if elected. “That he will not turn Brazil in another Venezuela,” she summarises.
Finally, Ms Barros warns that it there is still two months before the inauguration.
Rumours of a military coup and a threat to contest the election results were widely spread by Jair Bolsonaro's, who has yet to concede defeat.
“I'm afraid we may have a ‘January 6’ like-event in the United States which would be kind of scary and all.
"But I do hope we become united, hope that even with the World Cup, there's this ability of Brazilians to come together in cry and laughter. All Brazilians celebrating our selecao's (Brazil’s national team) victories. I hope we unite,” Ms Barros says.
Candidate Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva speaks after being elected president of Brazil over incumbent Bolsonaro by a thin margin. Source: AAP / VIEW Press
Brazilians in Australia leaned heavily towards Lula in the elections, but the division is clear.
SBS Portuguese spoke to some Brazilians living in Australia about how they saw the elections and what they expect for the country in the new Lula administration.
Voters for the Workers' Party candidate said they were both relieved and hopeful of less tense days whereas Bolsonaro voters feared economic problems.
Many Brazilians in Australia voted for Jair Bolsonaro and are deeply disappointed with the election results
Sydney resident and urban planner Gabriela Ortega campaigned on the Internet for Lula's candidacy and says he felt sick with anxiety ahead of the election result this Monday, 30.
“We were waiting here from the results I was checking multiple sources and also my family and friends from Brazil.
"When we saw Lula's victory, it was that relief. Yes, I cried. I called my family in Brazil, but it was a very anxious moment. I actually felt sick with anxiety, my stomach was really upset until the results came out. The wait was very painful".
Brazilians in Australia leaned heavily towards Lula in the elections
Relbson Matos is a nurse in Port Macquarie (NSW). He lived in Brazil with his Australian partner and says that, he left Brazil when Bolsonaro was elected.
"On the eve of Bolsonaro's election in 2018, I heard a neighbour shouting at the window saying that, after the vote, he would go out into the streets to 'kill deer’," he says.
Mr Matos says he was happy with the new president's speech.
“It was a pacifying speech, which talks about love, construction, unity of the country.
"It is an emblematic speech because it seems to demonstrate a political line completely opposite to ‘Bolsonaro’s approach, of resuming political projects with the support of everyone, including the opposition."
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva held slim advantage over Bolsonaro in race for office following a bitter campaign.
One of the strongest speeches among the so-called “Bolsonaristas” against Lula in Australia was that of the elected president being friends with left-wing governments, some dictatorial, such as Cuba and Venezuela, and others aligned to the left of the traditional political spectrum, such as the current government of Argentina and Bolivia.
Raphael Alves was a physical therapist in Brazil and an app driver in Sydney. He says he does not consider himself a “bolsonarista”, but a “libertarian”.
For him, the next four years will be compromised by Lula's political alignment with other Latin American countries that go against his thinking.
“It's a huge disappointment. Lula's economic policies are very much in line with the countries around Latin America that are in bankruptcy,” Mr Alves says.
“I think Brazil has a strong tendency to follow the same path. Fortunately, we managed to elect a more oppositional congress, (so) Lula will not be able to do as many things as he plans to do. It is difficult to see a prosperous future for Brazil in the next four years. "
Engineer Marcio Soares da Silva, from Brisbane, fears high taxes and inflation in Brazil.
“Taxes will rise again and with that inflation will come back strongly. We will have four years of economic difficulties,” he says.
Ester Weiss has lived in Australia for 43 years, owns a travel agency in Melbourne and runs the NGO VivaVida Foundation, which helps women and children who have suffered family abuse.
She believes that the whole problem started when Lula was released from prison, in her view, unfairly.
“The only thing I wouldn't want to see is a civil war. And let's pray that that doesn't happen.”
