To leave no room for institutional rupture in Brazil, international leaders and personalities hastened to send telegrams acknowledging Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s victory. The strategy echoes what democratic governments do when Donald Trump risks disrupting US elections in the face of Joe Biden’s victory.

The decision to speed up the recognition process was communicated to the two candidates’ campaigns even before the election. Brazilian civil society groups toured the capitals in Europe and North America for weeks, asking for this support to be given to TSE.

Just after the official announcement of TSE, President of Argentina Alberto Fernandez made a statement. “Congratulations, Lula. Your victory opens a new era in Latin American history. It’s a time of hope and a future that begins today,” he said.

“You have a friend here with whom you can work and imagine the well-being of our people,” he said.

In Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron also issued a memo. “Congratulations, dear Lula,” he said. According to him, the election “opens a new page in Brazilian history.” “Together we will join forces to tackle many common challenges and renew friendship between the two countries,” he said. Macron has been criticized by Bolsonaro over the years and offended by his wife by the defeated candidate.

The German government has also spoken. “President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, congratulations on the victory in the election. We welcome the possibility of expanding together and further deepening Brazilian-German relations,” said German ambassador Heiko Thoms.

The heads of government of Mexico, Spain and Portugal also congratulated Lula and made statements.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s victory was celebrated by Nobel Peace Prize winner and East Timor President José Ramos Horta. “The elections were clean, run with great authority and integrity by Brazilian electoral institutions with a lot of experience and internationally recognized credibility.”

“Justice has been served by restoring the vibrant Brazilian democracy and thereby correcting serious violations of the rule of law, serious injustices in the persecution and manipulation of the judiciary against Lula,” the president said. Few people on the international stage came to defend Lula while she was in prison.

“The people of Brazil must now reconcile themselves, heal the deep wounds in society, eliminate exclusion and discrimination, unite the multi-coloured, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Brazilian family, mobilize their creativity for a new vision. Brazil. reconciled, peaceful, solidary, fraternal.” said.

“At the international level, with Lula, Brazil will return to the golden era of his previous ten-year presidency, as depicted on the cover of the Economist magazine Brazil stratospheric,” he said.

“In this highly dangerous, fragmented, troubled world without charismatic global leadership, Lula can be the voice of moderation, the builder of bridges for dialogue and conflict resolution.”