Brazil’s Political Titan Lula Races Against Time Ahead Of Election

Shirtless and drenched in sweat, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva keeps running on his treadmill.

At 80, the veteran leftist leader is seeking to demonstrate that he still has the energy to campaign for a fourth presidential term in October’s election.

“You can’t stop the Earth from turning or the years from passing,” Lula says in his gravelly voice in social media videos showcasing his workouts.

A dominant figure in Brazilian politics for four decades, Lula has endured electoral defeats, 580 days in prison and a corruption conviction that was later annulled. The episode, however, continues to fuel attacks from political opponents who refer to him as “Lula the thief.”

He has also faced health scares, including a fall in his bathroom in 2024 that resulted in a brain bleed.

Since then, Lula has often been seen wearing a Panama hat. His once-thick black hair has also turned grey and thinned, as has his trademark beard.

Still, Lula says he feels fitter than ever and has spoken of his ambition to “live to 120.”

LONG SHADOW OF CORRUPTION

Lula was born into deep poverty as the seventh of eight children in a family of illiterate farmers in Pernambuco, an arid northeastern Brazilian state.

He worked as a shoeshine boy and peanut vendor before becoming a metalworker and trade unionist. In the 1960s, he lost a finger in a workplace accident.

After three failed presidential bids, Lula finally entered the presidential palace in Brasilia in 2003 and won re-election in 2006.

He left office in 2010 as a celebrated working-class leader after presiding over a commodity-driven economic boom that helped lift millions of Brazilians out of poverty.

But sweeping corruption scandals involving his political party cast a long shadow over his legacy and helped fuel the political backlash that brought far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro to power in 2018.

Lula was jailed later that year before his convictions were annulled on procedural grounds. The judge who oversaw the case was later found to have been biased.

The corruption scandal nevertheless contributed to deep and lasting political polarisation in Brazil.

Bolsonaro’s presidency proved equally divisive. In the 2022 election, Lula staged a dramatic political comeback, defeating Bolsonaro by a narrow margin.

Bolsonaro was later sentenced to 27 years in prison over an attempt to prevent Lula from returning to power.

LAST-DITCH MEASURES

Back in office, Lula initially appeared out of step with a Brazil he was still rediscovering.

He lives without a cellphone despite governing a hyper-connected country of 213 million people where disinformation is widespread.

Lula has been credited with restoring social programmes dismantled by his predecessor, reducing Amazon rainforest destruction and strengthening Brazil’s democratic institutions.

Yet his third term has also faced criticism from voters frustrated by inflation, crime and corruption, with critics arguing that it has offered few genuinely new ideas.

As the election approaches, Lula announced an increase in Bolsa Familia welfare benefits. The programme, launched two decades ago, remains one of the defining legacies of his political career.

“I don’t want to be just the Bolsa Familia president,” he said recently.

His campaign has also drawn criticism over a series of measures announced ahead of the vote, including plans involving access to GLP-1 weight-loss drugs through the public healthcare system and proposals targeting the billion-dollar sports betting industry.

A ‘CAMPAIGN BEAST’

Lula said in 2022 that he would not seek another presidential term. His decision to run again has therefore raised questions about why he is taking on the eldest son of his former political rival.

Lula, who has not groomed a clear successor, says he wants to prevent the far right from returning to power and “destroying” the country.

“He’s in great shape,” an unnamed foreign diplomat told AFP, describing Lula as a “campaign beast.”

His demanding travel schedule and quick wit have been cited as signs of his stamina. Lula has also credited his third wife, Rosangela da Silva, 60, with helping him maintain his youthful energy.

Flavio Bolsonaro, however, has taken a sharply different view, describing Lula as “the Brazilian Biden” and saying he has become “a danger to our nation.”

If Lula loses the election, he would leave office without the triumphant finale he is seeking. But his political legacy would remain significant after decades at the centre of Brazil’s political life.

As Lula told foreign media, including AFP, in a 2024 interview: “There is no one in this country with more experience as president than me.”