Xi congratulates Lula on Brazil election win

Chinese leader vows cooperation with president-elect after weekend poll

President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory message to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his election as Brazilian president, saying that he stands ready to work with Lula da Silva to promote bilateral ties to benefit the two countries and their peoples.

Xi said that both China and Brazil are major developing countries and important emerging economies that share broad common interests as well as responsibilities.

With joint endeavors from the two countries' successive governments and people from all walks of life, the China-Brazil relationship has made considerable progress with fruitful results achieved in all fields since the establishment of diplomatic relations 48 years ago, he said.

To maintain the long-term friendship and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation serves the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples, Xi said.

It also helps to maintain regional and global peace and stability and promote common development, he added.

The Chinese president said he highly values developing China's relations with the South American country and he will work with the Brazilian leader to make planning for and push forward the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership in the long run.

Lula da Silva, who is popularly known as Lula, beat far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in an unexpectedly tight contest on Sunday that came after months of intense and occasionally confrontational campaigning. Lula da Silva will now take the reins of the country on Jan 1.

Difficulties to overcome

"Lula will face a country that is primarily and, first of all, extremely divided into two key yes-or-no-type voters," Benny Spiewak, a partner at SPLAW, a law firm in Sao Paulo, told China Daily.

Lula da Silva won with 50.9 percent of the vote, while Bolsonaro, a 66-year-old former army captain, received 49.1 percent. More than 118.5 million people over 16 years of age voted.

Neither candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round of voting on Oct 2, sending the contest to a runoff.

The difference between the candidates was only about 2.1 million ballots and it was the first time that an incumbent president seeking reelection had failed in the attempt.

Voters not only chose a president but also had to pick among 24 candidates for governor in 12 states.

The results were in line with expectations and the first round of voting, when Lula da Silva obtained 48.4 percent of the vote and Bolsonaro 43.2 percent.

Lula da Silva, 77, who governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010, now faces challenges very different from a decade ago. He will have to address the 33 million suffering from hunger among the 214 million Brazilians. He will also have to deal with the continuing and rapid loss of the Amazon rainforest due to illegal logging and the expansion of the agricultural frontier.

"Lula enters power to a Brazil very different from the one he led until 12 years ago. It will be a challenge for him to integrate a deeply polarized people, with a high number of Bolsonaro supporters casting doubt on the election results," said David Castrillon, a research professor at the School of Finance, Government and International Relations at Externado University of Colombia.

Getting his initiatives through, such as a new labor law, the creation of a ministry for indigenous peoples and establishing a minimum wage that grows faster than inflation, will be among the key early challenges for Lula da Silva.

"Lula will have to face an adverse economic environment, amid a global recession and severe setbacks in social issues — an area in which he already left an important legacy as president. The expectations of those who put him in power are high, and the toolbox he has at his disposal will be few," said Castrillon.

Following Sunday's election result, Lula da Silva said it is not a victory for him, his party, or for the parties that supported him, but a victory for the Brazilian people.

Sergio Held is a freelance journalist for China Daily.