Luiz Inácio da Silva, the former president of Brazil – better known by his nickname, ‘Lula’ – seems set to make one of the greatest political comebacks of the 21st Century.
Lula, who served as Brazilian president from 2003 to 2010, was found guilty of corruption in 2017, which made him ineligible to run in 2018. (In Brazil, no former president can run for a third consecutive term if he or she has served two consecutive terms, but can run again after sitting out at least one term. This meant Lula was constitutionally eligible after 2014).
Lula had been a frontrunner in 2018 and was initially the candidate for his Workers’ Party (known by its Portuguese abbreviation, PT) but was ruled ineligible after his conviction for corruption was upheld.
However, this conviction was set aside by the Supreme Court this week on the grounds that the court that convicted Lula did not have the necessary jurisdiction. The prosecutor-general’s office has said it will appeal the judgment.
Despite initial reservations that he would implement radical left-wing policies, Lula turned out to be fairly moderate in his two terms in office. The Brazilian economy grew strongly under his presidency and millions of Brazilians were lifted out of poverty, thanks to a combination of economic growth and targeted interventions. He left office as one of Brazil’s most popular leaders.
Although Lula has not declared whether he will run in 2022, he has already criticised Jair Bolsonaro, the current right-wing Brazilian president, who was elected in 2018 and is likely to seek a second term.
Any clash between Bolsonaro and Lula will likely be highly polarizing. It remains to be seen whether Lula does emerge as the PT candidate.
[Image: Ricardo Stuckert/PR, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=719238]