Lula is officially back to presidential elections

The center-left Workers’ Party on Thursday officially confirmed the presidential nomination of its figurehead, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for the 2022 election. It will be his sixth time running, out of nine presidential races since Brazil’s return to democracy in the 1980s. After finishing as the runner-up in his three first attempts, Lula scored massive runoff wins in 2002 and 2006. 

He now hopes to extend the winning streak against incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro. All polls suggest he would score a resounding victory over Mr. Bolsonaro if the elections were held today.

The former president — who left office at the end of 2010 with approval ratings topping the 80-percent mark — was barred from running in 2018 following corruption and money laundering convictions by an appellate court. 

In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that prison sentences could be enforced after the first failed appeal, as opposed to once all appeals are exhausted, as was the previous rule. The following year, Lula was convicted for allegedly receiving a beachfront triplex apartment from a construction firm. 

The verdict was upheld by a panel of appellate judges in January 2018. In April of that year, the Supreme Court greenlit Lula’s arrest.

Even while Lula was serving time, the Workers’ Party registered him as...