‘Defeat for denialism’: Lula beats far right Bolsonaro in Brazilian presidential election

Incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was reelected on Oct. 25 in a surprise defeat of his far-right rival who had promised to remove “environmental obstacles” in the Amazon rainforest. Lula won 51.8% of valid votes. Flávio Bolsonaro, eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is imprisoned after being convicted of attempting a coup d’état when he lost the previous election, won 48.2% of the vote. Flávio was favored to win after he got 2% more of the first-round votes on Oct. 4. However, neither candidate got more than 50% of the vote, triggering a runoff election. Lula was able to secure an additional 10 million votes in 20 days. “This election was a defeat for denialism, a defeat for lies,” Lula said in his first speech after the election results. “We are going to teach the world how climate policy is done, here in this country. This year is the first time we have managed to reduce deforestation for four consecutive years.” Deforestation soared to its highest level in 15 years under Jair Bolsonaro’s government. Lula took office in 2023 pledging to end both legal and illegal deforestation by 2030. Since then, deforestation has gradually slowed to its lowest rate since records began in 1988, though the Amazon rainforest is still shrinking. Between August 2025 and July 2026, around 333,500 hectares (824,000 acres) of forest were cut, an area equivalent to roughly 7,300 Olympic-size swimming pools cleared every day. “The reduction in deforestation in recent years…This article was originally published on

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