Sao Paulo: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday he will run for reelection next year, seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term.
“I’m turning 80, but you can be sure I have the same energy I had when I was 30. And I’m going to run for a fourth term in Brazil,” Lula told reporters during his official visit to Indonesia.
The Brazilian leader is travelling across Asia. After his visit to Indonesia, where he met with President Prabowo Subianto, Lula will head to Malaysia to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
Brazilian media reported that he is expected to meet for the first time with US President Donald Trump in Malaysia on Sunday, following a conciliatory phone call earlier this month.
The two leaders are expected to discuss the 50 per cent trade tariff Trump imposed on Brazil.
Brazil’s constitution allows presidents to serve only two consecutive terms. Lula returned to office in 2023 after 13 years out of power and remains eligible to run again.
Before defeating Jair Bolsonaro in 2022 to win a third nonconsecutive term, Lula had said that would be his final campaign both because
of his age and because he believed the country needed political renewal. But early in his current term, he began hinting that he might run again.