Lula launches bid for historic fourth term, vows to block Bolsonaro-linked right from returning to power

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched his campaign for a historic fourth term on Sunday, addressing supporters in São Bernardo do Campo, an industrial city in the state of São Paulo. The 80-year-old president framed the election as a test of whether the “far-right” Bolsonaro-linked political movement will be able to return to national office, using language aimed at dissuading voters from backing the right while he remains in power.

According to The Guardian, Lula told the crowd that as long as he lived, he would not allow the “shameless” right to come back to power. He called his political effort a defense of Brazil against the return of Jair Bolsonaro’s agenda, emphasizing the stakes of the upcoming contest for the country’s governance direction rather than focusing on specific legislative proposals in the opening remarks.

Lula’s campaign launch comes amid legal and political pressure that has removed Bolsonaro from day-to-day politics. The Guardian reported that Bolsonaro is jailed, and that his allies are continuing to position themselves through family members, with Flávio Bolsonaro serving as a prominent public figure for the movement during Lula’s attempt to secure another term.

In response to Lula’s rhetoric at the start of his bid, Flávio Bolsonaro told supporters that he would “fight this system,” a statement carried by The Guardian as an indication that the Bolsonaro-linked bloc intends to confront Lula politically even while Bolsonaro himself remains in detention. The exchange underscored how the campaign is being contested not only through policy platforms, but through the visibility and messaging of jailed politicians’ networks.

The Guardian described the event as a large gathering in São Bernardo do Campo, where Lula has political ties and where the president’s remarks were meant to report both continuity of the left’s governing approach and an effort to limit the right’s chances of regaining influence. Lula’s comments functioned as a warning to voters and an organizational message to supporters at the start of the campaign period.

For Brazilian political institutions and legal processes, the parallel messages from Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro highlight the challenge of maintaining normal electoral competition when detention and ongoing investigations shape who can campaign and how movements mobilize. With Bolsonaro imprisoned and his son acting as the public face of parts of the right, the election is likely to remain tightly focused on accountability questions and the boundaries of political participation.

The Guardian’s reporting indicates that Lula is positioning his fourth-term bid as a defense against a Bolsonaro-era return, while the Bolsonaro faction is using confrontational messaging through Flávio Bolsonaro to sustain enthusiasm and contest Lula’s narrative. The next phase of the campaign will likely involve how candidates and parties address the legal circumstances affecting Bolsonaro and whether voters treat that context as a core issue in deciding leadership.

As of the time of The Guardian’s report, Lula’s campaign launch has established the central framing for his push toward a fourth term, centered on preventing the “far-right” from returning to power. The public role of Flávio Bolsonaro during Bolsonaro’s detention suggests that the Bolsonaro-linked network intends to remain active in the national contest even as the legal status of the former president remains a key factor in the political landscape.