Lula declares candidacy for October presidential election at PT party congress

Lula pushed back against doubts about his health fitness and pointed to his personal constitution. "I am infinitely more in shape than when I was 57 years old and took office for the first time. I am in top form," he said before the delegates. The statement was meant as a direct response to speculation about a succession candidacy.

Confrontation with the opposition

Politically, the president opted for confrontation with the opposition. In sharp words, he attacked in particular the son of the former right-wing populist president Jair Bolsonaro. Lula accused Flávio Bolsonaro of fueling the division of the country and weakening democratic institutions.

The PT staged the congress as a programmatic kick-off of a broad election campaign. At the center of the speech stood economic policy issues such as the strengthening of the domestic market, investments in education, and the fight against food insecurity. Lula presented himself as a defender of the poorer population strata against an elite shaped by large landowners and the financial market.

Economic and social priorities

Observers assess the formal candidacy as an expected step. Lula had already signaled several times in recent months that he wanted to run again. With the announcement at a party congress, the internal party structures now receive a clear directional decision.

It remains unclear with which strategy the opposition camps will enter the contest. Flávio Bolsonaro has been expanding his own claim to power within the right-wing movement for months but is considered a polarizing candidate. Other names from the right-wing spectrum are also being traded as possible opposing candidates.

Outlook on the election campaign

The October presidential election is seen as a directional decision about the largest country in Latin America. Economic stagnation, a tense security situation in the metropolises, and international relations – including with the United States – are likely to become the central issues of the election campaign.

International reactions to Lula's announcement had not yet been received at the time of the party congress. Observers in the Brasília region, however, expect that the coming weeks will be marked by a significant intensification of the election campaign, in which Lula is entering the race as incumbent despite his age.

With the reaffirmation of his candidacy, the picture of an election campaign between the ruling Workers' Party and a heterogeneous right-wing camp solidifies. Lula is banking on the narrative of social mobilization and the protection of democratic achievements – a line he also repeated at the party congress in São Paulo.