Incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro received rave reviews when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (75) held a press conference outside São Paulo on Wednesday.
Lula claimed that the country is virtually without a government and blunted Bolsonaro’s handling of the corona pandemic.
– Do not follow any of the weak-minded decisions of the President or the Minister of Health. Take the vaccine, Lula urged.
Presidential election next year
Earlier this week, the corruption verdicts against Lula were overturned by a judge in Brazil’s Supreme Court. This means that Lula will probably have the opportunity to challenge Bolsonaro in the election next year.
He did not want to say on Wednesday whether he will run for office – but he did not rule it out.
Instead, he promised to fight tirelessly for Brazil and to travel around the country again as soon as he receives the corona vaccine next week.
– Presented his project
Political analyst Creomar da Souza believes the press conference was very reminiscent of an election campaign speech.
– He presented his project to the country, says da Souza, who is employed by the consulting company Dharma.
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Lula ruled Brazil from 2003 to 2010. He belongs to the Brazilian Labor Party, is a former trade union leader and very popular among the country’s poor.
In 2017 and 2018, however, he was sentenced to long prison terms after allegations of corruption.
Car wash operation
The verdict in 2018 was part of the massive corruption revelation which in Brazil is known as Operation car wash.
Lula and his supporters have all along claimed that the charges against him were fabricated. The motive was allegedly to prevent him from participating in the presidential election in 2018 – which Bolsonaro won.
The following year, Lula was released pending an appeal. On Monday this week, the corruption verdicts were overturned by a Supreme Court judge.
Still popular
If the decision is not overturned by the Supreme Court in plenary, the charges against Lula will probably be re-examined by a federal court in the capital Brasilia.
This will probably not happen in time to prevent Lula from running as a presidential candidate next year. Thus, he has sailed up as one of the most relevant challengers to Bolsonaro.
An opinion poll this weekend indicated that Lula is the only current candidate who has a good chance of winning over the right-wing populist Bolsonaro, who has ruled Brazil since 2019.
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