Lula votes and praises popular mobilization: "never saw anything like it"

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), a candidate for re-election in the 2026 elections, voted on Sunday morning (25) at the João Firmino Correia de Araújo State School, in São Bernardo do Campo, ABC.

Lula arrived at the school at 10 am accompanied by the first lady Janja, the vice president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), and the former ministers Marina Silva, Simone Tebet and Fernando Haddad.

The president posed holding the flag of Brazil, initially alone and then next to the politicians who accompanied him to the polling place.

Before arriving at the polling place, the president spoke to supporters and journalists outside his home. He highlighted the participation of the population in this second round remembering that he is 80 years old and that he has participated in political life for five decades.

“I took part in the Directs campaign and, from 1989 until now, I participated in all the presidential campaigns. I’ve never seen anything like what I saw in the second round. In Bahia, in Pará, in Minas Gerais, in Copacabana. Yesterday, at São Paulo, at Avenida Paulista, I confess one thing to you: I don’t think Avenida Paulista ever received the amount of people participating in a political act like that. Never, never."

“I will vote gratefully for the Brazilian people. What the people have done to me these days is something they can't afford. It’s a lot of generosity, it’s a lot of affection, it’s a lot of love, and I will be eternally grateful to the behavior of the people. I never saw it, honestly. “I can’t believe anyone was ever treated with the kindness with which I was treated in this second round.”