EDITOR’S NOTE: 

I wanted to thank the Brazilian people for their generosity, those who stayed with me through the length of this runoff.  I want to thank the generosity of the young, who took to the streets to defend democracy. I want to thank the elderly. I know that many of them were urged on by their grandchildren to vote for me. People with cancer, people with limited mobility, with other kinds of illness. And you went to vote. It will be very important to assure them that their vote was worth it that it will safeguard democracy in this country.

I want to thank society as a whole, which is the real winner of this election.  This is an election in which we prevailed over outside interference, especially by digital platforms, which we are going to have to regulate.  We need to understand that crime in the digital world will be treated as crime in the real world.  We can’t have monstrous, giant companies earning millions and billions, paying no taxes to this country, and trying to influence electoral results.

This election was a defeat for denialism, a defeat for lies. And I confess that every time there was a debate, I felt embarrassed, because I’ve debated with a lot of people. I’ve taken part in many elections. I meet every year with the G20, the BRICS, the G7. I meet every year with the leaders of the world. And we discuss the world’s main issues.  But I never thought I’d come face to face with the genuine representative [Flávio Bolsonaro] of paramilitary power in this country. I never imagined someone could lie so much, so shamelessly, as if there weren’t a single cell of humanity inside him. It all seems fake.

…I was stunned to see the enthusiasm of people singing the Independence Anthem…in a demonstration that this country does not accept being anyone’s backyard.

…This election taught me many lessons. I can assure you we are going to change the way this country is governed. We’re going to have the people take a greater part in decision making. And digital communication is going to get a very large place in my government. . . .

I won’t allow my words to be interpreted in bad faith. I won’t. I’ll say what I think and what I do. One of the things that motivated me most in these elections was not letting those people win so they could privatize our public health system. 

Again, I will say that having won the election, we no longer have an adversary.  I will govern for all Brazilians. In my coming term, I am going to focus on caring for our elderly, who are have given us life.  Women will be treated with much more respect by Brazilian public policy. All religions will be respected on equal terms. . . .

Whatever anyone’s faith and spirituality, it is the responsibility of the secular state to guarantee full religious freedom, so that people can practice their faith fully.  We will continue our revolution in Brazilian education. We will achieve universal full-time high school.  We will universalize the student savings program sothat no young man or woman drops out of school because they have to work. We’ll teach more math, more engineering. Because I don’t want to depend on Chinese or US artificial intelligence. I want to create a Brazilian one. We have to take advantage of the energy potential of a country that may have the greatest renewable energy capacity, to bring here the data centers we need, so that our data is stored in Brazil. ….

We will move Brazil from being a developing country to a developed one, through investment in the digital economy, the green economy, and the creative economy. This country will be built not by me—because many of the things I’m mentioning here I know little about— but by you. We will the people’s creative potential so as to stop being a peripheral country. …   We are going to show the world how to handle climate policy. This year is the first time we’ve managed to reduce deforestation four years in a row….

This country is ready to be built. I won’t use the words “national unity” because that phrase doesn’t always fit this country.  But I want you to know: as far as it depends on me, this country will be civilized. This country has a Constitution. Nobody is obliged to like the president-elect, but he was elected to govern for everyone, based on respect for the Constitution and on his relationship with Congress. ….