Who is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the man leading Brazil's President race?

Brazil is witnessing a massive political battle between incumbent President and far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro and left leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In the first round of polls that took place on October 30, Lula claimed 48.3% votes, more than Bolsonaro's 43.3% votes, but quite far from staking his claim to become the next President of Brazil.

Bolsonaro also exceeded the expectations of opinion polls, which had written him off, getting around 43.3% of the total votes. The two will now square off on October 30 in the final round of the polls to stake claim for victory.

Who is Lula Da Silva? He is the former President of Brazil (2003-2010).

• Before entering politics in 1970s, he was a metal worker and a union leader. In 1970s, he was a familiar face during the strikes and called for hike in the wages of labourers. 
• Lula was once also called the 'most popular politician on earth' by former American President Barack Obama. 
• He became popular in the politics of Brazil and unsuccessfully contested elections in 1994 and 1998 only to win in 2003. 
• Lula had come to power promising a change. His governance saw a massive expenditure on higher education and welfare programmes that aimed to pull Brazilians out of poverty. 
• He left the office on a high note in 2010 with approval ratings of around 90%, but the following decade was very heavy for his party.
• Lula was accused in massive corruption scandals and for plunging Brazil into a massive recession.
• His successor Dilma Rouseff was impeached in 2016, in what many political observers in the country called a coup.
• In April 2018, Lula was sentenced to imprisonment for corruption scandals during his regime. However, in November 2019, he was released from the jail after spending nearly 580 days inside prison.
• He was not allowed to contest for the President of Brazil in 2018 and thereby Bolsonaro won the elections.
• In 2022, he is fully geared up to become the new President of Brazil. Lula supporters say, that they see in him the right man to lead the country out of  the mess in which Brazil is in.

Why Lula started his campaign from Amazon? 76- year old Lula chose Amazon as one of his key destinations for his campaign trail.

• His rival Bolsonaro is criticised for destroying the amazon rainforests.
• Lula knew that this is was one of the biggest political issues in this election and he exploited it for his own gain. In the campaign, he said: "We need to look after our forest, our fauna, our water, but most of all, we need to look after our people because they're struggling, they're in need and they need to live with dignity. We can reclaim this country, it's possible to once again walk with our head held high," Lula was quoted as saying by the BBC.
• Besides the Amazon rainforest, Bolsonaro is also criticised for the huge economic mess in which Brazil is at the moment. His governance was also criticised for poor handling of the Covid-19 crisis in Brazil which saw the death of around 5,85,000 people.