Lula da Silva: A metalworker who rose from poverty to reclaim Brazil's presidency

Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has reclaimed the presidency after defeating Flávio Bolsonaro in a fiercely contested election, securing a fourth, non-consecutive term and delivering a setback to right-wing forces aligned with US President Donald Trump across Latin America.

With all votes counted, Brazil’s electoral court declared Lula the winner, giving him a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes over Bolsonaro, a senator and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. The result followed a turbulent election evening marked by confusion at polling stations after voting hours were extended by two hours.

Also read: 'Brazil is no one's backyard': Re-elected Brazilian president Lula da Silva


Lula’s victory keeps Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy with a GDP of $2.6 trillion, under left-of-centre leadership and reinforces its position as an independent power at a time of mounting US pressure, including tariffs imposed by Trump. Together with Mexico, Brazil will continue to be governed by a left-leaning administration, bucking a regional trend that has seen right-wing candidates allied with Trump gain ground.

The win also marks an extraordinary reversal for a leader who was imprisoned after corruption convictions, only to see his sentences annulled and return to defeat Jair Bolsonaro in 2022.

From factory floor to the presidential palace

Lula’s political journey began far from the corridors of power. Born into poverty in Pernambuco, a northeastern Brazilian state, he moved with his family to São Paulo as a young child. He entered the workforce in the automobile industry, eventually becoming active in the metalworkers’ union in the industrial belt surrounding São Paulo.

In the late 1970s, as Brazil’s military dictatorship approached its final years, Lula emerged as a prominent labour leader. He became president of the metalworkers’ union and led a wave of strikes between 1978 and 1980, helping workers challenge an authoritarian system that restricted political and labour activity.

He also helped establish the Workers’ Party, known by its Portuguese initials PT, which offered a left-wing alternative to Brazil’s established political order. His background distinguished him from the country’s traditional leadership: he was a factory worker with little formal schooling, spoke Portuguese in an unpolished style and lacked the conventional credentials associated with presidential office.

Those characteristics initially fuelled doubts among sections of the elite about his ability to govern. His socialist platform also raised concerns about economic management, foreign investment and Brazil’s debt burden. Yet the same background helped him connect with working-class and lower-income voters.

After unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1989, 1994 and 1998, Lula won the presidency in 2002, receiving 52 million votes, or 61.3% of the second-round vote. He was re-elected in 2006, completing eight years in office before his chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff, took over in 2011.

Also read: Trump critic Lula wins reelection in Brazil, securing fourth presidential term

The social legacy that helped him return

Lula’s first two terms were marked by efforts to reduce poverty and expand economic opportunity. Among his signature initiatives was Bolsa Família, a cash-transfer programme introduced in 2003 that provided financial support to low-income families, linking benefits for households with children to conditions involving school attendance, vaccination and restrictions on child labour.

By 2010, the programme had enrolled 12.4 million households. It became a central part of Lula’s political identity, reflecting his emphasis on redistribution and social welfare.

His governments also raised the minimum wage from 200 reais to 510 reais and oversaw the creation of 13 million jobs, according to the background figures available. Economic growth and expanding foreign trade helped provide room for social spending. Lula also continued an International Monetary Fund programme agreed under his predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, despite having campaigned on a markedly different economic platform.

His tenure was not without controversy. In 2005, allegations emerged that the Workers’ Party had used government money to secure congressional support through payments known as the mensalão scandal. Lula denied knowledge of or involvement in the alleged scheme. The controversy damaged his popularity, although his social programmes and wage increases helped him secure re-election the following year.

Prison, political comeback and a new mandate

Lula’s political fortunes unravelled after Rousseff was impeached in 2016 amid a broader corruption investigation that also implicated him. He attempted to contest the 2018 presidential election but was jailed in March that year after being convicted in corruption cases.

He spent 580 days in prison before being released. Brazil’s Supreme Court later annulled his convictions after concerns emerged over the impartiality of the judge who had convicted him, clearing the way for his political return.

Lula subsequently became one of Jair Bolsonaro’s fiercest opponents and narrowly defeated the former president in 2022. His latest victory completes another improbable turn in a career shaped by labour activism, social reform, scandal, imprisonment and electoral revival.

At nearly 81, Lula joins Trump and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega among the oldest presidents in the Americas. His latest mandate comes with familiar challenges, including the cost of living, public security and questions over political integrity. For a man who began his working life on a factory floor, the return to the presidential palace represents another chapter in a political career that has repeatedly defied expectations.