Status: 01/01/2023 8:07 p.m
Term number three begins: Brazil’s President Lula has taken his oath of office. Hundreds of thousands of people celebrate him on the streets of the capital Brasilia – but his tasks are enormous.
Left-wing politician Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is once once more President of Brazil. The 77-year-old took his oath of office in Congress. He is entering his third term in office: he had already been president from 2003 to 2010. Lula is the first democratically elected president in Brazil to serve a third term.
His government will fight for a dignified life for all Brazilians, Lula said in Congress – without hunger, without poverty, but with work, education and health: “The vision of my life will be fulfilled if every Brazilian has three meals a day .” His message is “one of hope and reconstruction”.
Lula da Silva takes office as President of Brazil
Xenia Böttcher, ARD Rio de Janeiro, daily news at 8:00 p.m., January 1st, 2023
Lula takes over the presidency from right-wing extremist Jair Bolsonaro, once morest whom he narrowly defeated in the runoff election at the end of October. Bolsonaro does not recognize Lula’s victory and left the country for Florida a few days before the change of office. He is said to have followed the advice of his lawyers, who fear investigations once morest him due to omissions during the corona pandemic. Bolsonaro also avoided putting the presidential sash on his successor, Lula, as is usual.
Reconciliation following the Bolsonaro era?
Lula now faces great challenges. After his predecessor deeply divided society and isolated the country, he wants to reconcile Brazil and bring it back onto the international stage. Lula also announced a firm environmental and climate policy. However, Bolsonaro’s supporters have the majority in Congress.
In his first two terms, Lula benefited from the commodity boom. He was able to lift millions of people out of poverty through large social programs. But there was also a lot of corruption. Lula was sentenced to a long prison sentence for this and for money laundering, but the sentence was later overturned.
Hundreds of thousands of people celebrate on the streets of the capital Brasilia.
Image: AFP
Steinmeier and Lemke at celebrations
Many heads of state and government are present at the current inauguration. Germany will be represented by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens).
Steinmeier said it was good that Brazil was back on the international stage. In the short term, Germany will provide 35 million euros for the Amazon fund to protect the rainforest. This is money that was frozen during the time of right-wing President Bolsonaro.
Man wanted to go to celebrations with explosive device
There had been an incident shortly before the swearing-in. Police arrested a man who tried to gain access to the esplanade in the capital Brasilia with an explosive device and a knife. A military police representative told Archyde.com news agency. Around 300,000 people are expected to attend the inauguration ceremony.
The transfer of office takes place under increased security precautions. The reason is threats from supporters of Bolsonaro. After the election, they blocked country roads for weeks and called on the military to stage a coup.
