President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) commented on Monday (22) on the decision of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, to withdraw from the presidential race in the North American territory.
The Labour Party member highlighted his good relationship with the current White House chief, but said the choice to stay in the election was personal.
“I was very happy when President Biden was elected, and even more so because of his positions in defense of workers. We have established a strategic partnership together to defend decent work in the world. I love and respect him very much. He alone can decide whether he will go or not to be a candidate,” Lula said.
The statement came in an interview at the Palacio da Alvorada with international agencies such as Reuters, Bloomberg, AFP and AP. The government has not yet released the official recording, but Planalto posted an excerpt of the president's remarks on social media.
According to Lula, the Brazilian government's expectation is that whoever replaces Biden as the Democratic candidate, the strategic partnership between the two countries will remain unshakable.
“Now they will choose a candidate and the best one will win the election. Brazil's relationship will be with whoever is elected. We have a strategic partnership with the United States and we want to maintain it,” the president continued.
The withdrawal comes after pressure from the party and some Democratic voters. The crisis in Biden's campaign began at the end of last June, when he performed poorly in a debate against Donald Trump. At that time, the president's cognitive ability was in doubt.
However, the process of choosing a new candidate to replace Biden is not easy. Such an exchange has never happened before in the Democratic Party, and it concerns issues of delegates won in the primaries and the actions of other politicians in the party.
“God only knows what Trump can do”
Lula had previously commented on Biden's situation in other statements by the Labor Party member, who openly declared his preference for the Democratic candidate over his rival, former President Donald Trump.
“I sympathize with Biden, and I think Biden is the certainty that the United States will continue to respect democracy. Trump already showed that demonstration when he stormed the Capitol, which is not right, he did little of what they tried to do here in Brazil with the coup of January 8,” said the Workers’ Party member.
“So, as a Democrat, I’m rooting for Biden to come out on top, and if Biden wins, I already know Biden, I already have a relationship with the United States that’s a strong relationship, and I intend to maintain that. If Trump wins, we don’t know what he’s going to do. Frankly, we have no idea what he’s going to do,” he continued.
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