Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva You are convinced of something: He is not Joe Biden. Run in the presidential 2026 for the seventh time in his life to seek to be the head of state of Brazil On the fourth time it seems, at 81, perfectly possible. That bet does not have to end in a political debacle, as was the case of the American, an experience that Lula continued to suggest and wondering why the witness did not give in Kamala Harris long before. Lula believes that he is different, and he lets him know from the tape to run a gym.
“Many people like to be sitting, but the human being needs to move his body,” says the president, while running, in a video uploaded to his Instagram account. “Because our longevity depends on us. You know that I speak every day that I want to live up to 120 years. Therefore, at 79, I am running to show that nothing is impossible. Get up, run, go, make muscles, that they will live much more! “
Someone who intends to live 120 years hardly thinks about the retirement at 81. Lula, who last year was operated after a strong blow to the head and dressed for several weeks a Panama hat until he healed the wound, remains today the best alternative of the Workers Party (PT): there is no other figure in the match that approaches the weight and popularity of a man who, basically, has been in an electoral campaign for more than 30 years. And that today lives in a state of euphoria, promoted by his wife, Janja, 31 years younger and deeply interested in politics.
“It’s soon to think about being a candidate in 2026,” Lula said a few weeks ago, in a phrase that is far from containing the whole truth.
“Among the party members, the confidence that Lula will not give up his candidacy derives from two observations. The first is that the lulism It is still a much broader field than the petism (in reference to the party), “he said recently The globe. “The second observation is that Lula continues to show enormous interest in politics and it would be very difficult to abandon the game of power without further ado. A member of the PT leadership says that he is sure that Lula dies for being a candidate and that he dreams of expanding the margin of the longestary president in history in a democratic regime. “
The optimism and desire for Lula do not stop attracting attention if it is observed that their popularity is at the lowest levels that are remembered. The inflation of food and the crisis of Pix, a popular electronic payment, brought that figure to 29%, according to a recent Datafolha survey, but the PT is confident that from now on the recovery arrives, especially if it is taken into account that, in front, The right must solve what to do before a Jair Bolsonaro that will be prosecuted as leader of a coup attempt and that this Sunday led a march in Sao Paulo claiming the amnesty before 55,000 people. Insist until the end with a candidacy or prepare another name? The Tarcisio de Freitas, governor of San Pablo, perhaps? It is the clearest name, although the governor would do well to take care of the singer of SERTANEJO GUSTEVO LIMA, to which the surveys recently gave practically tied with him, with 13% intention to vote. Lula, well up, exhibits 30%. 44% would never vote for Bolsonaro, and 42% would never do it for Lula.
Is there anything beyond the extreme polarization that Lula and Bolsonaro pose? The third options usually flourish in Brazil for a short time and wilt no later than the elections, but the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leiteaspires to be next year that Third manalthough surveys do not favor it too much for the moment.
“Our goal is to have an alternative project, with the best name, with the best picture that is revealed for itin the appropriate time that is defined for the 2026 elections, “said Leite, a figure of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), which of Social Democrat is little and nothing, far from the one who took the presidency twice Fernando Henrique Cardosoat 93 years totally retired from political and social life.
While running on the tape and thinks about living 120 years, Lula seeks to advance oil surveys at the mouth of the Amazon, a project to which her environmental minister, Marina Silva, opposes. The president gives relatively the same: he is convinced that developing that region can provide key votes. Votes in 2026, of course.