Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is Brazil’s president, serving his third term for the Workers’ Party (PT).

Political career

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was born in 1945 in the state of Pernambuco, in Brazil’s north-east, and moved with his family to São Paulo as a child, part of the internal migration that shaped much of twentieth-century Brazilian urban politics. He had limited formal schooling and entered the workforce early, becoming a metalworker in the industrial belt of São Paulo. This experience was decisive in shaping his political identity: he emerged from shop-floor organisation rather than from the traditional legal, military or elite academic routes common in Brazilian politics.

Lula became a trade union leader during the late 1970s, when the military regime was still in power but liberalisation was underway. He rose to national prominence as president of the Metalworkers’ Union in São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema, leading large strikes that helped revitalise labour politics and challenge the dictatorship’s control over organised workers. In this period, he became one of the best-known figures in the so-called ABC Paulista industrial region.

In 1980, Lula was one of the founders of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), a left-wing party built around trade unions, social movements, intellectuals and grassroots activists. The PT became his political vehicle for the rest of his career. He was elected federal deputy in the Constituent Assembly period in the 1980s context but is better known for his repeated presidential campaigns, which helped define the democratic era after the end of military rule. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 1989, 1994 and 1998, each time strengthening his national profile while moving gradually towards a broader centre-left appeal.

Lula was first elected President of Brazil in 2002 and served from 2003 to 2010. His first presidency combined macroeconomic stability with expanded social policy, allowing him to preserve investor confidence while promoting poverty reduction, consumption growth and access to education and credit. He won re-election in 2006 and left office with high approval ratings, becoming one of the most influential Latin American leaders of his generation.

After leaving office, Lula remained the PT’s historic reference point and the central figure of Brazil’s left. His influence was interrupted by legal proceedings and imprisonment during the Lava Jato period, before later judicial decisions altered the legal basis of those cases. He returned to the presidency after winning the 2022 election, taking office again in 2023 for a third term. His current administration has focused on rebuilding federal capacity, restoring social programmes and reasserting Brazil’s role in international diplomacy.

Relationship with the public

Lula’s relationship with the public is unusually durable for a Brazilian politician. He is widely seen by supporters as a self-made leader who rose from poverty to the presidency, a biography that gives his politics strong symbolic power, especially among working-class voters, informal workers and beneficiaries of social programmes. His communication style is direct, conversational and personal, which has helped him maintain electoral appeal across decades.

At the same time, Lula is a polarising figure. He commands intense loyalty among PT sympathisers, labour organisations and parts of the urban poor, but also strong resistance from middle-class and conservative voters who associate him with state intervention, political patronage or corruption-era politics more broadly. His relationship with civil society is therefore mixed: he is admired by unions, social movements and many in the progressive camp, while sections of business, the evangelical electorate and the anti-PT public view him with suspicion.

In the media, Lula has long been one of Brazil’s most covered and contested public figures. Supportive outlets and commentators often stress his social achievements and diplomatic stature; critics highlight his combative rhetoric, dominant style within the left and the ethical controversies that affected the PT in government. He remains exceptionally capable of shaping the national agenda, particularly through speeches that frame politics in terms of inequality, democracy and national sovereignty.

Positions and political profile

Lula is generally identified with social inclusion, poverty reduction, labour rights and state-led development. In office, he has defended expansion of public investment, improvement of income distribution, and active federal coordination of welfare and infrastructure policy. His political style is pragmatic rather than doctrinaire: although rooted in the left, he has often governed through compromise with centrist and business-aligned forces, especially when seeking legislative majorities.

Among the central features of his political profile are the Bolsa Família social policy model, support for higher wages and formal employment, expansion of access to universities and technical education, and a foreign policy that emphasises multilateralism, South-South cooperation and Brazilian autonomy. During his presidency, Brazil also became more visible internationally as an emerging power. In his current term, he has stressed democratic reconstruction after institutional crisis, environmental protection in the Amazon and a more active global role.

Inside the PT, Lula is both a unifying symbol and a source of organisational dependency: the party remains strongly identified with his leadership, for better or worse. Outside the party, even opponents often acknowledge his political skill, instinct for coalition-building and ability to speak to voters beyond the traditional left. He is perceived as one of the most effective electoral politicians in modern Brazilian history, but also as a leader whose long dominance has shaped and at times constrained the PT’s renewal.

Frequently asked questions

What party does Lula belong to? He belongs to the Workers’ Party (PT), which he helped found in 1980 and which has remained his main political base throughout his career.

How many times has Lula been president of Brazil? He has been president three times in political terms, serving from 2003 to 2010 and again from 2023 to the present.

What was Lula’s background before entering politics? He was a metalworker and trade union leader, rising to prominence in São Paulo’s industrial labour movement before helping found the PT.

Why is Lula so important in Brazilian politics? He is one of the most influential democratic-era politicians in Brazil because he combined working-class origins, union leadership, electoral strength and a long record of shaping the national agenda.

What are Lula’s main political ideas? His politics centre on social welfare, labour rights, poverty reduction, state investment, democratic inclusion and an autonomous foreign policy.

How is Lula viewed in Brazil today? He is viewed as both a historic popular leader and a deeply polarising figure: admired by many for his social legacy and electoral skill, and criticised by opponents for his style, alliances and the broader legacy of PT governance.