Jair Bolsonaro (left) and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (right) will face each other in a run-off election in 30 October. (Getty)
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known more commonly as leftist politician Lula, is the new president of Brazil after a nail-biting run-off election against anti-LGBTQ+ monster Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazil went to the polls earlier this month (2 October) to cast their votes and decide who will be their next leader.
Lula, the country’s former leader, beat the far-right incumbent Bolsonaro in the popular vote at the beginning of October, but he failed to secure the 50 per cent of votes needed to be elected. It led to the run-off election taking place today (30 October).
Polling firm Datafolha first confirmed Lula had won Brazil’s election to be named the country’s next president, dying Bolsonaro a second term, with the official vote count standing at 50.83 per cent of votes for Lula against 49.17 per cent of votes for Bolsonaro, after 98.86 per cent of the votes had been counted.
The election victory for Lula was confirmed by Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court. This means Bolsnoaro is the first president since the 90s to fail to win a second term.
The left-wing Lula served as president of Brazil from 2003 until 2010, but was unable to run in the 2018 election as he was in prison on corruption charges which were later annulled.
Democracia. pic.twitter.com/zvnBbnQ3HG
— Lula 13 (@LulaOficial) October 30, 2022
Although Lula has not been outspoken about LGBTQ+ issues, he has previously attended queer events and spoken in support of LGBTQ+ rights.
But for Brazil’s LGBTQ+ community, anyone would be better than Bolsonaro.
The viciously homophobic and transphobic president, who once said he’d rather have a dead son than a gay one, has used his presidency to attack the LGBTQ+ community time and time again.
He previously claimed “homosexual fundamentalists” were brainwashing children to “become gays and lesbians to satisfy them sexually in the future”, and even used a speech ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral to attack trans rights, which he called “gender ideology”. His relentless far-right, religious rhetoric has seen a deadly rise in anti-LGBTQ+ violence.
Bolsonaro has described himself “proud homophobe”, and during the coronavirus pandemic told Brazil stop fearing COVID-19 – which he said is just a “little flu” – like a “country of f*gs“.