President Joe Biden congratulated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in his runoff victory against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro to again become Brazil’s president.
“I send my congratulations to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following free, fair, and credible elections. I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead,” Biden said in a statement.
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Da Silva received 50.9% of the vote and Bolsonaro 49.1%, according to the country’s election authority. However, Bolsonaro had yet to publicly concede or react in any way, the Associated Press reports.
Just over 2 million votes separated the two candidates. The previous closest race, in 2014, was decided by a margin of roughly 3.5 million votes, according to the Associated Press.
This is the first time since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985 that the sitting president has failed to win reelection.
The 77-year-old da Silva, who served as Brazil’s president from 2003-2010, gave a victory speech Sunday.
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“It is not the number of years that makes someone old. What makes you old is the lack of a cause,” said da Silva in a report from the Associated Press. “Brazil is my cause. The Brazilian people are my cause.”
His inauguration will be held Jan. 1.
