Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of jailed former right-leaning President Jair Bolsonaro, lead far leftist incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by 47% to 45% in voting yesterday, which will prompt a run-off vote later in the month. This follows other wins across Latin America by right-leaning parties that are aligned with President Donald Trump.
Lula da Silva called the results of the first round of voting “unexpected,” as Bolsonaro took 56.1 million votes to Lula da Silva’s 53.9 million votes.
The vote caused the Brazilian real to jump 4% against the US dollar in early trading on Monday morning, amid the results of the two frontrunners in a field of 12 total candidates, according to Reuters.
Jair Bolsonaro was convicted for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election and is currently serving a 27-year sentence, according to Reuters. Important topics in the election are the cost of living, corruption and security in citizen’s daily lives.
In what may be an important factor in the election, this is the first election in Brazil in six years in which USAID funding has stopped. From 2019 to 2023, USAID more than doubled its US government foreign assistance spending in Brazil after Jair Bolsonaro won the election in 2018, with the money being spent on undermining him.
The amount rose from $31,959,883 in 2018 to $68,875,827 in 2019. During Bolsonaro’s term, spending went as high as $87,374,391, while going back to normal levels (never exceeding $46.1 million from 2000 to 2018) only after he left office.
After hearing the results, Lula said in front of a crowd at a Sao Paulo hotel that he had been convinced that he would win the election in the initial round, and stated that, “tomorrow, we begin a new campaign.” He said that he would show the voters what his accomplishments as president have been.
