Comrades, sisters and brothers of the organised working class,
On 25 October 2026, the Brazilian people delivered a powerful message that reverberates far beyond Latin America. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — former metalworker, trade union leader, and founder of the Workers’ Party (PT) — secured a historic fourth term as President of Brazil. In a dramatic runoff, Lula overturned a first-round deficit to defeat Flávio Bolsonaro by approximately 51.8% to 48.2%, a margin of more than four million votes. This is the first time since Brazil’s return to democracy that a candidate who finished second in the first round has gone on to win the presidency.
This is not merely an electoral result. It is a victory rooted in the organised power of workers, the poor, and progressive forces who refused to accept a return to authoritarian politics and policies that attack labour rights, social protection, and democratic institutions.
Why This Matters for the Labour Movement Worldwide
Lula’s journey is our journey. He rose from the shop floor of São Paulo’s metal factories, led strikes against the military dictatorship, and helped build the PT as a genuine workers’ party. His successive governments expanded social programmes that lifted tens of millions out of poverty, strengthened labour protections, and asserted Brazil’s independent voice on the world stage. The 2026 campaign once again mobilised street protests, student actions, and grassroots organising — the classic tools of the labour movement — to turn the tide.
Across the globe, workers face rising inequality, precarious employment, attacks on collective bargaining, and the advance of right-wing forces that seek to roll back hard-won gains. Lula’s win is a concrete demonstration that organised working-class power, combined with broad democratic alliances, can still defeat well-resourced authoritarian projects. It offers practical encouragement to trade unions confronting similar challenges in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas: mobilisation, clear class messaging, and the defence of democracy are not optional extras — they are essential to defending workers’ living standards and political voice.
The South African Context: Solidarity, Shared Struggles, and Strategic Lessons
For South African workers and the broader labour movement, this victory carries particular weight. Our histories are intertwined through the struggle against dictatorship and racial capitalism, through BRICS cooperation, and through a shared commitment to a more just international economic order. COSATU and other federations have long recognised the PT and Brazilian unions as natural allies in the fight for decent work, against neoliberal austerity, and for the democratisation of global institutions.
Lula’s re-election reinforces several lessons relevant to our own terrain:
- Workers’ parties and unions remain decisive. Even in a polarised and difficult environment, a candidate with deep roots in the trade union movement can still win when the organised working class is mobilised.
- Democracy and social rights are inseparable. The Brazilian campaign framed the choice as “democracy always, dictatorship never again.” In South Africa we know that formal political democracy must be defended and deepened through economic and social rights — living wages, secure employment, public services, and the right to organise.
- International solidarity is a material force. The defeat of a candidate closely aligned with the most reactionary currents of global right-wing politics strengthens the space for progressive governments and movements in the Global South to pursue independent development paths.
At a time when South African workers confront high unemployment, the erosion of collective bargaining in parts of the economy, and the need to rebuild working-class organisation, Lula’s victory is a reminder that the tide can still be turned when we organise with clarity and determination.
Looking Forward
The challenges facing Lula’s new government are real: a difficult Congress, economic pressures, and determined opposition. Yet the fact of the victory itself shifts the balance. It strengthens progressive forces in Latin America, provides a counterweight to the rightward shift that had marked recent regional elections, and offers renewed energy to the international labour movement.
As trade unionists we do not romanticise any government. We judge administrations by their concrete defence of workers’ rights, social justice, and democratic space. Lula’s record and the nature of this campaign give us grounds for hope and a basis for continued solidarity.
We congratulate the Brazilian working class, the PT, and the progressive movements that made this result possible. We reaffirm our commitment to internationalist solidarity — from the shop floor to the global stage. The struggle continues, but today we celebrate a significant advance for the forces of labour and democracy.
Forward to a world where workers’ rights and human dignity are not negotiable.
Issued in the spirit of working-class internationalism.