Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inacio Lula da SilvaREUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday defeated incumbent Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and won the second round of the Brazilian presidential election.

With 98.9% of districts counted, da Silva had a slim lead over Bolsonaro, winning 50.8% of the votes compared to Bolsonaro’s 49.2%

Neither candidate received more than 50% of the votes in the first round in early October, as required by Brazilian law, setting up Sunday’s runoff.

Da Silva, 76, previously served as Brazil’s President from 2003 to 2010. He is widely remembered for his administration’s involvement in vast corruption scandals that entangled politicians and business executives.

Da Silva's own convictions for corruption and money laundering led to 19 months imprisonment, sidelining him from the 2018 presidential race that polls indicated he had been leading against Bolsonaro. The Supreme Court later annulled da Silva’s convictions on grounds that the judge was biased and colluded with prosecutors.

Bolsonaro, who has been dubbed the “Trump of Brazil”, is a close friend of Israel but came under fire during his term in office for his incendiary speech, his testing of democratic institutions, his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years.

He also had a fractious relationship with the media, frequently singling out specific newspapers and journalists for his ire.

The Brazilian Press Association announced in 2020 it would file a lawsuit in Brazil's Supreme Court against Bolsonaro over possibly exposing members of the media to COVID-19.

The association, known as ABI, alleged Bolsonaro did not respect the health safety distance from reporters and took off his mask at a televised press conference in which he announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

Bolsonaro announced after his election that he intended to uphold his campaign promise and move the Brazilian embassy to Jerusalem.

Ultimately, Brazil announced it would open a trade office with diplomatic status in Jerusalem.