Biden congratulates Lula da Silva on winning 'free, fair, and credible' Brazil presidential poll

Washington: US President Joe Biden has congratulated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following a "free, fair, and credible" election and said he looks forward to working with him to strengthen bilateral ties.

Leftist Da Silva, 77, defeated President Jair Bolsonaro in an election runoff that marked a stunning comeback for Lula and the end of Brazil's most right-wing government in decades.

“I send my congratulations to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following free, fair, and credible elections,” Biden said in a statement on Sunday.

“I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead,” he said.

Da Silva was previously president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

However, after leaving office he was swept up in a massive corruption scandal that landed him in prison for 19 months. A Supreme Court justice nullified his convictions in March 2021, clearing him to run for president again.

Bolsonaro, an ally of former US President Donald Trump, never recognised Biden’s 2020 election victory and continued to question it ahead of his first meeting with his US counterpart in June.

Da Silva has pledged to rebuild international relationships that have frayed under Bolsonaro, and on Saturday said that he would seek to travel to the United States early in his presidency.