The president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) turns 80 this Monday (27). Age brings you a new mark: to be the first octogenarian to exercise the Executive Power.
Last Thursday (23), during a visit to Indonesia, . In the country, he also celebrated his birthday early.
“I will be 80 years old, but you can be sure that I have the same energy as when I was 30 years old. And I will run for a fourth term in Brazil”, declared the president.
Lula always conditioned a new attempt at re-election on his health. In September, he even declared that .
In the last year, .
Until then, he tied for the oldest head of the Executive with Michel Temer (MDB), who left power in 2018 at the age of 78.
Other presidents ended their terms in their 70s, such as:
- Getúlio Vargas: 72 years
- Ernesto Geisel: 71 years
- Fernando Henrique Cardoso: 71 years
A CNN Brazil did a survey with the age at which each leader left power, check it out:
Longevity can be “done” and “symptom”
For political scientist and sociology professor at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie Rogério Baptistini, Lula’s longevity can be both an achievement and a symptom.
“It is the achievement of those who survived the forces that traditionally destroy popular leadership in Brazil — the economic elite, the judicial machine and political conservatism”, he mentions. “But it is also a symptom of a country that is unable to renew its progressive field, repeatedly depending on the same character”, he continues.
Being in power at 80 years old, for the professor, means that Lula has the strength of “a unique biography”.
“But it also reveals the absence of a political modernization project capable of going beyond individual charisma. Lula is, in a certain sense, the hero and the limit of the very history that produced him”, explains the professor.
Genial/Quaest survey released at the beginning of the month. Another 42% say yes and 2% don’t know or didn’t answer.
However, the majority of those who voted for a “non-candidacy” are supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) (97%); from the “non-Bolsonarist” right (89%); and independent (66%).
Lulistas (96%) and those on the “non-Lulista” left (75%) are those who most support a new presidential campaign.
At the same time, government approval is experiencing its best moment in almost a year. 48% approve and 49% disapprove. They don’t know or didn’t answer, 3%.
Another survey, by AtlasIntel/Bloomberg, .
According to Professor Baptistini, what is required of a mature leader is historical awareness and the ability to self-criticize.
Lula has the rare authority of someone who has seen Brazil from below and from within, and therefore speaks with social legitimacy. However, his recent trajectory shows a tendency towards excessive pragmatism, which dilutes the reformist sense of his first cycle of government. At the international level, he is still heard — mainly because he represents a voice from the global South —, but his speech needs to rediscover coherence between the criticism of neoliberalism and the practice of conservative alliances. Political maturity is only fully realized when the courage to innovate is maintained
