Lula launches fourth-term bid on sovereignty
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- Lula formally launched his fourth-term bid — his seventh presidential campaign — at a Workers' Party convention in São Paulo, telling supporters it would be his final term if he wins October's election
- Lula's speech centered on sovereignty, calling for more defense spending, pledging to protect Brazil's rare earths and critical minerals, and warning that China, the United States, and France would not access them without respecting Brazilian sovereignty
- Trump imposed two rounds of tariffs on Brazilian goods in July and maintains close ties with Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, Lula's main challenger, whom Lula has called a 'traitor to the nation'
- Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, became the right's leading candidate after his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was convicted of plotting to overturn the 2022 election result
- A Datafolha survey places Lula ahead of Flavio Bolsonaro 48% to 43% in a potential second-round contest, though Brazil remains deeply divided
- Both campaigns face corruption scrutiny: Flavio Bolsonaro over alleged efforts to secure funding from a banker accused of financial fraud, and one of Lula's sons over suspected corruption and influence peddling
Why it matters: Lula is reframing a competitive race — where he leads by just 5 points in a potential runoff — as a sovereignty referendum, leveraging Trump's July tariffs and the Bolsonaro family's White House ties to mobilize nationalist sentiment. With both candidates weighed down by corruption probes and voters anxious about living costs, the sovereignty frame gives Lula a way to redirect attention from domestic vulnerabilities toward an external adversary.
