The Diplomat
The Government of Spain yesterday congratulated Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva on his victory in Brazil’s presidential elections and conveyed to him its “best wishes for success” during his presidential term, which will officially begin in January.
“Lula’s victory signifies the beginning of a new political stage in Brazil guided by social justice, equality and against climate change, values shared by the Government of Spain,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Spain will continue to promote its bilateral strategic partnership with Brazil, in favor of the well-being and prosperity of our citizens, based on the close economic, demographic, cultural and historical ties that unite our peoples and their deep shared values,” it continued.
“Likewise, we will work for concerted action in the multilateral and Ibero-American spheres to jointly face the important global challenges”, concluded the Government, which extended its congratulations “to the Brazilian people and institutions for their civic-mindedness during the electoral process, proof of their firm commitment to democracy”.
For his part, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, yesterday expressed his “congratulations” to Lula for his victory “in these elections in which Brazil has decided to bet on progress and hope”. “Let’s work together for social justice, equality and against climate change,” the chief executive continued via Twitter. “Your successes will be those of the Brazilian people”, he concluded.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, also expressed his “congratulations” to the Brazilian president-elect and assured, through the same social network, that the two countries “will work together on our common agenda and for that of Latin America-EU”. Likewise, the second vice-president of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, also declared via Twitter that “Brazilian citizens have chosen to look to the future. It has chosen Lula to take care of democracy.” “Now, we will work together for a Latin America and Europe of social and climate justice,” she concluded.
The leftist Lula da Silva Lula, of the Workers’ Party (PT), beat the far-right and outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro by less than two points ahead (50.9 vs. 49.1% of the vote) in the second round of the presidential election. Lula, 77 years old and former president of Brazil between 2003 and 2010, will therefore return to the presidency of Brazil twelve years after he last held office. He is the first president in Brazil’s republican history to serve three terms as head of state and the first time that the incumbent president has not been re-elected.
In Spain, the results of the Brazilian diaspora were fairly close to those of Brazil as a whole, but with a greater advantage for the PT candidate. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), there are 90,535 Brazilians registered in Spain (data from January 2022), but only 31,000 have the right to vote, distributed in two jurisdictions: Madrid, with 20,000 voters, and Barcelona, with 11,000. According to official data, 56% of Brazilians residing in Madrid voted for Lula against just 44% who supported Bolsonaro. In Barcelona, the result was an overwhelming 75.5% for Lula against the outgoing president. Lula also won in the first round in the two Spanish jurisdictions, as in Brazil as a whole.
