Slow growth, high public debt, rising household debt remain main pain points and could cloud Brazil\u2019s economic outlook
\n BRAZILIA
\nBrazil\u2019s leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pulled off a dramatic comeback on Sunday as he clinched a re-election victory, but his rival Flavio Bolsonaro refused to accept the loss and said he would seek to annul the vote.
\nWith Lula\u2019s victory, Brazil staved off a conservative wave that has seen numerous countries \u2014 such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru \u2014 all shift right, backed by US President Donald Trump. The leftist icon, who turns 81 on Tuesday, defied projections to win an unprecedented fourth term.
\nAccording to official results, he won 51.8 per cent of the votes to 48.2pc for Flavio Bolsonaro, with Lula pulling around 4.4 million more votes. The senator is the son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year jail term for attempting a coup after his loss to Lula in the country\u2019s last election in 2022.
\nSunday\u2019s vote was marked by confusion after a Supreme Court ruling extended voting by two hours as some polling stations had already closed. The move came at the request of Lula who complained that buses had been pulled from circulation in various cities, barring citizens from voting.
\nFlavio Bolsonaro also requested an extension in some regions due to heavy rains, but he described the decision as \u201cunacceptable\u201d and a \u201cdirty trick\u201d. \u201cIt is impossible to recognise the results. I am going to request the annulment of these elections,\u201d he said, stone-faced, in a brief speech in Brasilia.
\nNo candidate who lost the first round has gone on to win the second in Brazil since 1989, the first direct election after the end of the country\u2019s military dictatorship. \u201cPeople went to vote because we managed to convince them that voting was very important for ensuring democracy in the country,\u201d Lula said in his first comments after the win.
\nFireworks and vuvuzelas rang out in Rio de Janeiro, while thousands of people dressed in red, the color of Lula\u2019s Workers\u2019 Party, streamed into the streets of Sao Paulo to celebrate. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Slow growth, high public debt, rising household debt remain main pain points and could cloud Brazil\u2019s economic outlook BRAZILIA Brazil\u2019s leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pulled off a dramatic comeback on Sunday as he clinched a re-election victory, but his rival Flavio Bolsonaro refused to accept the loss and said he would seek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n