Irish Examiner view: Biggest task for Lula is to reunite Brazil

Lula has a big job on his hands to reunite and refocus Brazil on issues of social justice, destitution, hunger, climate, and Covid 

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrates defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a presidential run-off election to become the country's next president, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last October. Picture: Andre Penner/AP

There was a palpable sense of relief in Brasília on Sunday as tens of thousands lined the streets of the Brazilian capital to herald the inauguration of the country’s new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In something of a mirror image of the divisiveness and bitterness between right and left which has riven America in recent years, so too it was in Brazil under the presidency of populist Jair Bolsonaro.