Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva underwent a second surgery on Thursday after his emergency surgery earlier this week to relieve bleeding in his skull, his doctors said, adding that the latest operation was successful.
“The president is awake and talking,” Lula’s personal doctor, Roberto Kalil Filho, told reporters after the surgery, which lasted about an hour, ruling out any complications from the surgical procedures.
Lula’s condition has raised questions about the president’s intention to run for re-election in 2026, but a senior official said Thursday that he will be the candidate of the ruling Workers’ Party.
Lula, 79, will remain in intensive care on Thursday and is expected to be discharged from the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital in Sao Paulo early next week, when he could resume his presidential activities, Kalil said.
Doctors operated on the leftist leader for about two hours on Tuesday to drain bleeding between his brain and meningeal membrane, which they said was related to a fall at his home in late October.
The second procedure, an embolization of the middle meningeal artery, aimed to minimize the risk of future bleeding.
“It was a preventive procedure,” said neurologist Rogerio Tuma, adding that it would drastically reduce the likelihood of a new hematoma.
Brazil’s presidential spokesman, Paulo Pimenta, for his part, stated that Lula will be at the polls in October 2026.
In an interview with Brazil, Pimenta rejected criticism that Lula’s health and age would be obstacles to him seeking a fourth term. Lula, currently serving a third non-consecutive term, will be 81 years old in the next presidential election.
A majority of Brazilians, however, believe Lula should not run for re-election, according to a new poll, even though the survey showed he would be the favorite candidate to defeat conservative rivals.
The Genial/Quaest poll published Thursday, conducted before he was rushed to hospital on Tuesday, found that 52% of respondents thought Lula should not run for re-election, compared to 58% who thought that way in October.
The percentage of those who believe he should run for office increased from 40% in the previous survey to 45%.
If the race were decided in a second round, Lula would win with more than 50% of the vote against far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is banned from running in elections until 2030, or the conservative governors of the states of Sao Paulo and Goiás if they show up.
The left in Brazil would be politically orphaned if Lula does not run, because he has no heir apparent in his Workers’ Party and Brazilian voters have become more conservative.
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