Former President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and former Minister of the Environment have reconciled to defeat the ultra-right leader.

On Monday, Sept. 12, Silva, a presidential candidate on three occasions, declared her political support for Lula in the face of the Oct. 2 elections with the objective of defeating the "evil seed of bolsonarismo."
 
"Our political reunion takes place in the face of a serious scenario of political life. We have the threat of threats, a threat to our democracy," said Silva, who also said that she never lost personal contact with Lula.

With less than a month to go before the elections, Lula, the big favorite, reached out to his former environment minister after years of estrangement, a reunion that would increase the political capital of the leader of the Workers' Party (PT).

"This is a demonstration that democracy can be exercised even when there are punctual divergences. Democracy is an evolving society," Lula stressed.

In Lula's first term in office between 2003 and 2007, Silva was in charge of the Ministry of the Environment.

With Silva's backing, the former president can reach out to the evangelical electorate, one of Bolsonaro's main electoral bases, who is a defender of conservative values, family and is not in favor of abortion.

"We have a complex situation in political reality: how to deal with a complex mix of political fundamentalism with religious fundamentalism. The best way is to treat all Brazilians as citizens," he said.

On the other hand, they emphasized that the environmental issue will be taken "very seriously." If Lula wins the elections, he stressed that Brazil will be a "protagonist" in the climate area.

"We started in 2003 to implement the socio-environmental agenda. Then it was weakened and now destroyed by the Bolsonaro government," said Silva.