Jair Bolsonaro becomes first sitting president in Brazil to lose re-election bid
Brazil Election 2022: Hardline far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro also called the “Trump of the Tropics” surged to victory four years ago.
Jair Bolsonaro lost the presidential runoff election to Lulu on Monday becoming the first president since the 1990s to be voted out of office. As Bolsonaro was rejected at the ballot box, all presidents who attempted a second term before him were voted back in by the electorate.
Read more: Lula triumphs over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro but… margin is closest since 1989
Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1998, Lula himself in 2006 and Dilma Rousseff in 2014 all had won a second four-year term. Electoral officials declared the election for Lula, who had 51 percent of the vote to 49 percent for Jair Bolsonaro.
Hardline far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro also called the “Trump of the Tropics” surged to victory four years ago and was very popular but the vitriolic leader came under fire for his disastrous handling of the Covid pandemic which left more than 680,000 dead in Brazil.
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Under Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil saw a weak economy, attacks on democratic institutions and the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years. Many fear that Jair Bolsonaro might not accept his defeat in the elections follwing his political role model former US president Donald Trump.
As the election results show a divided Brazil, Lula is set to face huge challenges from the day he assumes office.