Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday night gave a victory speech in which he called for "peace and unity", said the country was no longer an international pariah, and highlighted the need for a "living Amazon", AFP reported.
Lula reached out to supporters and rivals alike, highlighting the need for "a Brazil of peace, democracy, and opportunity."
He touched on gender and racial equality and the urgent need to deal with a hunger crisis affecting 33.1 million Brazilians.
"The wheel of the economy will turn again," he promised.
"It is in no one's interest to live in a divided nation in a permanent state of war," the 77-year-old leftist said, vowing to serve all 215 million Brazilians, and not only those who voted for him.
"This country needs peace and unity. This population doesn't want to fight anymore," he stated.
"Today we tell the world that Brazil is back. It is too big to be banished to this sad role of global pariah."
Da Silva defeated incumbent Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and won the second round of the Brazilian presidential election on Sunday.
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 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.
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.