Brazil: Lula will seek a fourth term in office in 2026

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Thursday that he will run for another term in next year's elections.

"I will contest a fourth term in Brazil," the leftist leader said during a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, a stop on a tour of Southeast Asia. "My term ends at the end of 2026 but I am prepared to contest another election."

The elections will be held in October. If he wins, Lula will be 81 years old, but this week he said he feels like he has "the same energy as when he was 30." The president already governed the country between 2003 and 2010. He was unable to run in the 2018 elections because of a corruption conviction, for which he spent more than 500 days behind bars, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

At the moment, it is unknown who will be the main candidate of the right wing. Former president Jair Bolsonaro will not be able to compete in the polls, after being sentenced to 27 years in prison last month. A sentencing that was widely criticized by the Trump administration, with the president saying it was "very much like what they tried to do with me," and Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling it "unjust."

With Bolsonaro out of the electoral race, other names being bandied about are those of Sao Paulo governor Tarcísio de Freitas and former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, according to AFP.