Sovereignty was behind Lula’s win

Dear Editor,

Political commentators are all in awe at the victory of President Lula in the runoff Presidential elections in Brazil on October 25th. This is the first time that a candidate who came second at the first round of voting came back to win the runoff. Another first for Lula.

Why did Lula win despite being behind in the polls? In my humble view it’s because sovereignty matters.

Bolsonaro declared himself an ally of Donald Trump of the US. Trump himself came out in open support of Bolsonaro. The US government interfered heavily in the elections in Brazil. The open embrace of Bolsonaro sent shock waves in the society. Bolsonaro is being seen as a puppet of Trump, and it is envisaged that he would have made Brazil a de facto colony of the US as so many countries are today.

That hit the people very hard. They don’t want to be subjected to any foreign power. They don’t want their country to be used as a dumping ground for persons/ criminals that the US wants to get rid of.

They don’t want their country’s natural resources to be exploited by others with very little going to the development of their country.

They don’t want to be a military base of the US where people called “narco-traffickers” are killed willy-nilly without any evidence.

Lula’s victory is the first pushback against the re-colonisation of our region and beyond. Sovereignty matters!