Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has announced that he will seek a historic fourth term in next year’s presidential election.
The former metalworker, who returned to the presidency in 2023 after defeating the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, confirmed his decision during a speech in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta.
“I’m about to turn 80 but you can be sure that I’ve got as much energy as I did when I was 30. And I’m going to run for a fourth term in Brazil.”
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Lula first ran for elected office in 1982 and launched his first (unsuccessful) presidential campaign in 1989 before eventually winning power in 2002 and becoming his country’s first working-class President.
Brazil’s constitution allows Presidents to serve only two consecutive terms. Lula, who served two terms in 2003-2010, returned to office in 2023 after 13 years out of power and thus remains eligible to run again, potentially extending one of the most remarkable and enduring political careers in modern Latin American history.
Lula had previously said his 2022 presidential bid would be his final campaign, both because of his age and because he believed the country needed political renewal. That election saw him narrowly defeat Bolsonaro in a run-off.
However, early in his current term; his third, Lula began hinting that he might run again. In February 2023, the Brazilian President said that he could seek re-election in 2026, adding that his decision would depend on the country’s political context and his health.
Even as he approaches 80, Lula remains by far the most influential figure on the Brazilian left – a status the former union leader has enjoyed for the last 40 years.
If elected, he would be 85 by the time he finishes his fourth term and would have become the only democratically elected Brazilian President to have spent 16 years in power.
Lula Leading Current Polls
Lula currently leads all polls for the 2026 election, though roughly half of voters say they disapprove of him. Trump’s tariffs reenergised the Brazilian leader and pushed his popularity up.
His main political rival, Bolsonaro, has been barred from running for office and was sentenced in September to 27 years in prison for attempting a coup.
While no strong opposition candidate has yet emerged, Analysts say a viable contender is likely to depend on Bolsonaro’s backing as he serves his sentence under house arrest.
Some Brazilian politicians have expressed concern about Lula’s age and recent health issues. He underwent emergency surgery to treat a brain bleed late last year after a fall in the bathroom. Still, Lula frequently insists he remains healthy and energetic, often sharing workout videos on social media.
Also, Fernando Morais, Lula’s biographer and friend, insisted Brazil’s gym-going president was fit as a fiddle and sharp as a tack and hadn’t smoked a single cigarette since quitting after overcoming throat cancer nearly 15 years ago.
“He’s not Joe Biden … I’ve never seen him suffer a memory lapse, neither in public nor in private when it’s just the two of us chatting … He’s someone who has astounding physical energy, not to mention the energy of his soul.”
Fernando Morais
Joe Biden’s disastrous 2024 re-election campaign, which the 81-year-old president was forced to abandon after an excruciating debate with Donald Trump, left some Brazilian voters fretting over the wisdom of an octogenarian Lula seeking another term.
Morais said that he believed that if the 2026 election were held today, “Lula would win in the first round.”
He expressed his conviction that Lula’s fourth term will be his best term of all and “it will be the term that allows him to enter history through the front door.”
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