Brazil election: Lula makes stunning comeback as voters turn backs on far-right Bolsonaro

Brazil took a turn to the left by returning former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to power to beat far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential election.

It was a long, divisive campaign which saw rge two bitter rivals on opposite sides of the political spectrum go head to head, but Lula won 50.9% of the votes despite Jair Bolsonaro’s confidence.

It is a stunning comeback for Lula, who could not run in the last presidential election in 2018 because he was in jail and banned from standing for office after being found guilty of receiving a bribe from a Brazilian construction firm in return for contracts with Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras.

Lula spent 580 days in jail before his conviction was annulled and he returned to the political fray. “They tried to bury me alive and here I am,” he said, kicking off his victory speech.

A sea of red – the colours of his Workers’ Party – massed on São Paulo’s main street, Paulista Avenue, with crowds chanting: “Lula has returned.”

“It wasn’t Lula against Bolsonaro, it was a campaign of democracy against barbarity,” Lula said, whose fall from grace over corruption scandals disqualified him from running in 2018.

The campaign descended into a holy war as the candidates vied for millions of religious votes. Lula has traditionally had the support of Catholics, while Bolsonaro is allied to the ever-growing evangelical church.

In a campaign so prone to fake news, it took on even bigger dimensions in the last weeks when Lula has had to convince his voters of his godliness, dispelling lies about closing churches and being linked to Satanism. Meanwhile, a video of Bolsonaro in a masonic lodge went viral.