Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who began his third term in office in 2023, said in an interview on Tuesday that he would consider running for a fourth term if necessary to keep conservative “troglodytes” from returning to power.
Lula, 78, would be 80 years old in time for the 2026 presidential election. He won a bitterly fought race in 2022 against conservative then-President Jair Bolsonaro after the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), the nation’s top court, controversially overturned his multiple convictions on charges of corruption occurring during his first two terms in office. Lula first served as president from 2003 to 2011.
The hardline socialist president, who has dramatically realigned the government’s foreign policy to benefit rogue states such as China and Iran, commented on the possibility of running for president yet again in an interview with the local outlet CBN Radio, insisting that “many good people” exist on the left to run for president in 2026, but he did not categorically reject the idea of being a presidential candidate once again.
“I don’t want to discuss reelection in 2026 because I have barely a year and seven months in my term. There are many good people to run, I don’t need to be the candidate,” Lula reportedly said.
“But, pay attention,” he continued, “if it is necessary for me to be a candidate to prevent the troglodytes who governed this country to return to power, you can be sure that my 80 years will turn to 40 and I will become a candidate.”
He insisted that his nomination as presidential candidate for the socialist Workers’ Party (PT), which he founded, was not “the first possibility” and he acknowledged his advanced age could become a political issue.
“We’re have to think about it a lot. I know I’ll be 80 years old,” Lula reportedly said, “I have to see what my state of health is, what my physical resistance is.”
The president nonetheless concluded, “I will not allow this country to be governed by a fascist again,” apparently referring to Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro, who identifies as a hardline anti-socialist conservative, implemented policies that greatly expanded economic freedom in Brazil. He also notably gave Brazilian people unprecedented freedom to bear arms, which Lula revoked as one of his first acts upon returning to power.
Lula, arguably the most successful socialist politician in Brazilian history, has long resisted challenges from within his leftist movement and has a large ego that has not allowed the PT to properly develop other formidable political figures. In 2016, following his indictment on charges of improperly using government money to buy a luxury beachfront property, Lula claimed the case was an attempt to keep him off the ballot, as “only Jesus Christ can beat me in Brazil.”
Lula was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison after multiple appeals. The STF overturned his sentences on procedural grounds, offering no evidence exonerating Lula or indicating that he did not commit the crimes in question. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), another top court run at the time by STF kingpin Justice Alexandre de Moraes, outlawed journalists and candidates, including Bolsonaro, in Brazil from mentioning that Lula was a convicted felon or calling him “corrupt” in public.
Brazilian ex-president (2003-2011) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrives at the Federal Police headquarters where he is due to serve his 12-year prison sentence, in Curitiba, Parana State, Brazil, on April 7, 2018. (Heuler Andrey/AFP via Getty Images)
In 2022, during his campaign against Bolsonaro, Lula replaced his self-comparisons to Jesus by identifying with American football star Tom Brady.
Brady, Lula told Time magazine, has “been the best player in the world for a long time, but in each game, his fans demand that he plays better than he did in the last one … For me, with the presidency, it’s the same thing.”
The odds that Lula would be a successful candidate to the presidency for a fourth time in part depends on whether the Brazilian government would allow Bolsonaro to appear on the ballot or not. The Brazilian court system has already targeted Bolsonaro on criminal charges, including an allegation that the former president used a fake coronavirus vaccine card to enter the United States. The courts banned Bolsonaro from running for public office until 2030 and ordered Bolsonaro to hand over his passport, trapping him in the country.
“I have always warned in my speeches in [Brazil’s] Congress about dangers of my country turning into a Cuba or Venezuela with their concentration camps,” Rep. Eduardo Bolsonaro, a lawmaker and the former president’s son, said during a visit to Washington, DC, in March. “Today, unfortunately, I live in my own movie about the gulag. My father is now persecuted and slandered in various ways, and as in any tyranny, the limit of the ridiculous no longer exists.”
Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro during a demonstration on Brazil’s Independence Day on September 7, 2021, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Amauri Nehn/NurPhoto via Getty)
Lula has maintained lackluster approval ratings in the past year. A poll published this week by the left-leaning firm Datafolha found that only 36 percent of Brazilians would describe Lula’s performance as president as “good” or “great.” Another 31 percent said they disapproved of Lula’s performance, and 31 percent also said they thought Lula was “fine” as president.
Some have raised concerns that Lula may be too old to serve a full fourth term. Writing for the Brazilian magazine Veja, columnist José Casado recalled that Lula had once promised in 2022 to support a bill mandating term limits for presidents.
“It is remarkable, that in the government and in the opposition, no one has questioned the idea of Lula – again, at 80 years of age, after completing 37 years in the office – as the sole and permanent candidate of the PT to the presidency of the Republic,” Casado wrote.
In February, Lula endorsed 81-year-old President Joe Biden for a second term at the helm of the United States.
“Although I am not a U.S. voter, I think it’s obvious that Biden is a greater guarantee for the survival of democracy in the world and the United States,” Lula said at the time.
