4 Narrow victory margin means a divided Congress

Lula defeated Bolsonaro in the closest election in the history of Brazilian democracy. He won with 50.9% of the votes, to Bolsonaro’s 49.1%, as per the official tally. Beyond his election promises, the success of Lula is also attributed to the fact that he ran the elections involving a coalition of 10 parties ranging from the left to the centre-right; Lula’s campaign has brought together two political forces - the centre-right Social Democratic Party and the Brazilian Democratic Movement - who had been enemies in the 2000s with the Lula Workers’ Party. This means Lula will face a divided congress and divided country, with Bolsonaro’s allies having captured a large presence in both Houses on top of controlling the country’s three most populous states, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. A bigger question also remains on how long such a diverse coalition will stay together and put up the fight against Bolsonaro in both houses of the parliament. “Lula’s challenge of governing is bigger than that of winning the election. Brazilian society needs to be rebu its institutional and fiscal basis,” said Carolina Botelh political scientist with the Institute of Advanced Studies at Sao Paulo University, to Bloomberg on October 31. “Lula will need to recover the internal a external trust of financial agents and civil society”, added.