RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In statements made on Thursday, April 15th, to Argentine radio station C5N, when asked about the possibility of running for election once again, Lula said that “if necessary and if I must be a candidate in 2022 to win the elections against a fascist who is called Bolsonaro” he will do so.
These statements come after Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the ruling of one of its Justices, which annulled the convictions handed down in the Curitiba lower court against the ex-president, who thus regains all his political rights.
The STF decision was taken by 8 votes to 3 and supported the position of justice Edson Fachin, who on March 8th annulled the sentences against Lula, which totaled almost 25 years of imprisonment, because of a lack of jurisdiction for the court headed by Judge Sergio Moro to hear the cases.
The ex-Brazilian president pointed out that, before considering his participation in a new electoral process, he will have to “talk with the other center and left political forces,” in a process similar to that carried out by Alberto Fernández to secure the Argentine presidency.
However, Lula acknowledged that he does not have to be the progressive candidate: “I am 75 years old, I consider myself to be in good health, I am physically well, but it does not have to be me, we can choose someone who can represent the progressive interests of the country,” he said.
“I never thought we would have in Brazil a president of the fascist and genocidal republic, who is the most responsible for the pandemic,” he said in reference to Bolsonaro’s management of Covid-19, which has placed that nation as one of the hardest hit in the world by the virus.
Bolsonaro “only thinks of the military and, therefore, I believe that democracy will return and I hope to be part of this process that will bring back hope and joy to Brazil,” added the ex-president.