Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be sworn in on January 1st. He will have to prove himself quickly
will get the keys to the Brazilian president’s residence—exactly 20 years after he was first inaugurated in 2003. Brazil’s fortunes have risen and fallen since then. So have those of Lula, as the former union organiser and founder of the left-wing Workers’ Party is known. He left office in 2010 with an 83% approval rating. From 2018 he spent 18 months in jail on corruption charges that were later annulled.
Lula’s amendment passed on December 21st, the eve of the congressional recess. Having to change the constitution to make a budget add up is a symptom of Brazil’s political dysfunction. The charter has been changed 140 times since it was drafted in 1988, more often to allow the government to borrow more, rather than to allow reforms that might make spending more efficient.
Once elected, however, Lula changed his tune, launching talks with Mr Lira, which surprised many given the congressional leader’s loyalty to Mr Bolsonaro. But Mr Lira, like Lula, is a pragmatist. He was the first authority to recognise Lula’s victory; otherIndeed many politicians who once supported Mr Bolsonaro have now decided to back Lula.