Socialist Returns In Brazil
Brazil’s Socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva apparently held off a tough challenge from conservative challenger Flávio Bolsonaro in Sunday’s re-election showdown between the two powerhouse candidates. Going into Sunday’s vote, polls had given Bolsonaro a slight edge, so Lula’s tenacity comes as a surprise.
The vote sets Brazil apart from most of Latin America, including Peru Chile, Costa Rico and Colombia, all of which elected new conservative presidents over the past year. American President Donald Trump clearly favored Bolsonaro, who received about 49 percent of the vote, trailing Lula’s 51 percent.
The New York Times says a two-hour election extension, granted by a Lula-aligned judge, might lead to an “annulment” of the election. “This is an extremely serious, critical situation,” said electoral lawyer Priscilla Sodré Pereira to the New York Times. Here’s more from the New York Post.
