After winning a majority of votes in the second round of elections, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will become president of Brazil on Jan. 1, 2023.
With this, the largest economy in the Latin American region will be governed by the left.
The South American nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) hovers around US$1.608 trillion, leading the region by a considerable distance from the second most robust economy, Mexico, with US$1.293 trillion, according to World Bank estimates.
Mexico is also governed by a democratic movement that triumphed at the polls in 2018 after decades of Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) authoritarianism.
In addition, the following economic powers in the Latin American region, in descending order, are Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia, all governed by progressive administrations that conquered the leadership of their countries through majority electoral processes.
Argentina has a GDP of more than US$491 billion; Chile, more than US$317 billion; and Colombia, more than US$314 billion, according to the multinational financial institution figures.
In his first speech as president-elect, Lula da Silva asserted that Brazil must recover its leading role in the international conversation; in addition to saying that the country will resume its projection of stability to guarantee foreign investment, he also made promises to support national companies and entrepreneurs and to invest in technology and environmental matters.
In addition, Brazil is part of the BRICS trade alliance, together with South Africa, China, India, and Russia, from which they seek to strengthen economic possibilities differentiated from the economic hegemony of the United States.