Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva eked out a slim victory last Sunday over Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election for president of Brazil.
The progressive candidate’s success and his return to office is a remarkable comeback, a win for democracy in one of the global South’s largest and most important countries, and a genuine fillip for efforts to protect the environment.
Da Silva, more popularly known as just Lula, will have little time to celebrate. He must govern a deeply divided country, one in which the opposition controls important levers of power. The economy is sluggish, battered by geopolitical winds and a decade of mismanagement. The former president has the skills and the experience to restore faith in and stability to Brazil’s political system. The world needs him to succeed.