If he wins reelection next year, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will become the fourth head of state on the American continent to take office over the age of 80. Lula, who turns eight decades old this Monday, the 27th, is already the oldest president in Brazilian history, as he took office at the age of 77, in 2023.
Lula will be the oldest president to seek reelection since this institute was created in 1996. Last Thursday, the 23rd, during his visit to Indonesia, the PT member reaffirmed that he will be a candidate again next year. The president has said at several events in recent months that the only issue that will have to be reevaluated in 2026 is his health.
Even if Lula loses, the president’s record must remain with him. Lula’s potential opponents, according to research institutes, are younger. The governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), will be 52 years old in 2027. Former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro (PL), in turn, would take office at 45 years old if she wins the dispute for Planalto. The governor of Paraná, Ratinho Júnior (PSD), would also take office at the age of 45 if he wins the election, and the governor of Goiás, Ronaldo Caiado (União Brasil), at the age of 77, putting him on par with Lula.
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On January 5, 2027, the date of the elected official’s inauguration in 2026, Lula will be 81 years, two months and nine days old. In history, only three heads of state have taken office over the age of 80 on the American continent. Only one is South American: Miguel Manuel Sanclemente became president of Colombia at the age of 83 years, 10 months and 19 days, in 1898. The Colombian holds the record for being the oldest president of all time when taking office in an American country.
The second is Cournelius Alvin Smith, who was governor general of the Bahamas, a Caribbean archipelago, between 2019 and 2023, taking office at the age of 82 years, 2 months and 21 days.
Raúl Castro, brother of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, was elected for a second term as Cuba’s leader in 2013, at the age of 81 years and eight months. Unlike the Brazilian elections, Castro was the only candidate in the election, as the Cuban territory is governed by an authoritarian one-party system.
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Just like in Brazil, the United States is currently led by the oldest president to take office. On January 20 of this year, Donald Trump was 78 years, 7 months and 6 days old. He will not be able to enter the list, because, according to the laws of that country, a president cannot be elected for a third term.
Lula even cited the close ages between the two to detail the behind-the-scenes of the first phone call he had with Trump on October 6th. According to the PT member, because the President of the United States is slightly younger, he could “talk more rudely” to the North American.
“I started talking to Trump like this: ‘I’m turning 80 years old and you’re going to turn 80 on June 14th’. He’s younger than me, so I’m old enough to talk more rudely to him,” said Lula during the launch of new real estate credit for the middle class in São Paulo.
According to Tiago Valenciano, political scientist at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), presidential inauguration after the age of 80 is rare because, normally, the head of the national Executive is the last step in the career of politicians between 40 and 60 years old. According to the expert, Lula’s case is different, because, given the lack of names in the PT, the political situation meant that the president, who had stopped contesting elections in 2010 at the age of 65, returned to the polls.
“Normally the Presidency of the Republic or command of a country is the end of a career. It is not a continuation of a career or the return of a career. It would be the crowning of an already existing career”, says Valenciano.
