Brazilian Head of State says he and his team are “prepared to contest other elections”
The current President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from the Workers’ Party (PT), declared this Thursday in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, his intention to run for a fourth term in the 2026 presidential elections.
“I’m going to turn 80, but you can be sure that I have the same energy as when I was 30 years old. And I’m going to run for a fourth term in Brazil”, said Lula da Silva, while speaking alongside the President of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, on a state visit to the Merdeka Palace, as quoted by CNN Brasil.
The current Brazilian head of state also added that despite his mandate ending at the end of 2026, he and his team are “prepared to contest other elections”.
Lula da Silva was President of Brazil between 2003 and 2011, having been the 35th in office, always with the support of the PT. He ran for president for the sixth time – he lost in 1989, 1994 and 1998 – against Jair Bolsonaro, winning in the second round.
The statements were made after Lula da Silva said that the relationship between the two countries should be “increasingly productive” and that he intends to encourage private investment between them, with “more Brazilian businesspeople visiting Indonesia and more Indonesian businesspeople investing in Brazil”.
Before the speeches, the two heads of state signed a series of cooperation agreements in areas such as agriculture, energy, science, defense and statistics, according to CNN Brasil.
The Brazilian President highlighted that the two countries share similar positions in international politics, such as the defense of the Global South, the reform of the United Nations Security Council and a diplomatic solution to the war in Gaza.
Lula da Silva arrived in Indonesia on Wednesday night, as part of his visit to Southeast Asia, during which he also visits Malaysia, and was received with honors at the Presidential Palace, accompanied by a delegation of Brazilian ministers.
Bilateral trade between the two countries reached 7.15 billion dollars (6.16 billion euros) in 2024, according to data from the Indonesian Ministry of Commerce.
On Friday, the Brazilian head of state will visit the headquarters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to meet with the bloc’s secretary general, Kao Kim Hourn, before leaving for Malaysia, where he will participate in the summit of that regional organization, on Sunday, as current president of the BRICS, which includes Russia, India, South Africa, and, since January 2025, Indonesia, among others. countries.
On the sidelines of the summit, between October 25th and 26th, Lula da Silva may meet with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, which was not ruled out by Brasília, which highlighted this week that “there is space” available on the agenda. A senior US Government official said on Wednesday that negotiations are underway to organize a meeting.
The meeting would take place in a context of trade tension, after the United States imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian products, following the trial in which former president Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for an attempted coup d’état.
