BRASILIA (Middle East Eye) – The re-election of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could see the South American country revert back to policies in support of Palestinian rights, experts have told Middle East Eye.
Brazilians head to the polls on Sunday in one of the most crucial votes since the military dictatorship ended in 1985.
Lula, who served as president for two terms between 2003 and 2010, is standing for re-election against right-wing populist incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
In the first round of the vote, held on 2 October, Lula beat Bolsonaro into second place, but by an unexpectedly narrow margin. He failed to win an overall majority, forcing the two into Sunday’s run-off vote.
Most polls suggest Lula is ahead by only a few points, but the outcome is anyone’s guess. In a deeply polarized country, a victory for either of the larger-than-life characters will have a profound impact on Brazil and its place in the world.
Nowhere is this more visible than when it comes to Palestine. And with Brazil being home to roughly half of Latin America’s population, its leanings on the issue may influence the rest of the continent.
Sayid Tenorio, the vice-president of the Brazil-Palestine Institute, said relations between Brazil and Palestine would likely see a major reorientation if Lula secured re-election.
Earlier this year, the 76-year-old met with members of the Palestinian community in Brazil and stressed that the Palestinian people had the right to live in a “free and sovereign state”, adding he would work to re-establish the leading role of Brazilian foreign policy in the mediation of conflicts and of peoples’ right to defend themselves.
If elected, Lula will benefit from his reputation as a leader with experience in conflict resolution and will be able to recover Brazil’s diplomatic tradition, Tenorio told MEE.
“Despite the right-wing majority in Congress, Lula will have autonomy as the executive leader to guide foreign affairs,” he said.
Lula’s support for Palestinian rights was evident shortly after he entered office for the first time in 2003. In December of that year, he visited Syria and pushed for the creation of a Palestinian state, remarks which raised tensions in the occupied territories with Zionist officials. Months later, the Brazilian government opened a diplomatic office in Ramallah.
And seven years later, in December 2010, one of Lula’s last acts in office was to recognize Palestine as an independent state within its 1967 borders.
“After that, several Latin American countries followed Brazil and also gave their recognition to Palestine,” Tenorio added.
Even after his term ended, Lula’s successor, the first female president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, followed his leftist policies and piled pressure on the Zionist regime over its military operations in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Ualid Rabah, the president of the Arab Palestine Federation of Brazil, told MEE that Lula was also crucial in forming the Summit of South American-Arab Countries - which called for tighter political and economic links between the regions and demanded that the Zionist regime disband settlements and retreat to its borders before 1967.