Lula enjoys strong support from indigenous communities in first round of Brazil's presidential election

The votes are closed for this first round of the presidential election in Brazil. And Lula can count on broad support from the indigenous community. “It’s important to choose a candidate who defends nature”: Waldemir da Silva, leader of the Três Unidos indigenous community, in the Amazon.

Located on the banks of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, its village of 120 inhabitants, of the Kambeba people, has suffered greatly in recent times from the smoke of forest fires. And he fears that the situation will worsen with the El Niño phenomenon, which promises to be particularly severe this year in Brazil.

“Fires harm air quality. Children and the elderly are in danger of death, several residents have suffered from coughs or vision problems,” the 67-year-old community leader told AFP.

In 2023, Lula created a Ministry of Indigenous Peoples

Tatiane Costa, 38, is worried about her daughter, who is studying in Manaus, the largest Amazonian metropolis, covered in a thick cloud of smoke a few days ago. “She called me to tell me she wanted to go back to the village because she inhaled a lot of smoke,” she said, wearing a long red necklace made from seeds.

On Sunday, to vote, residents of the Três Unidos community had to go by motorboat to the neighboring town, a ten-minute journey. On the way, several of them made the “L” sign with their hands to show their support for the outgoing president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The left-wing leader enjoys broad support from indigenous peoples. At the start of his third term, in 2023, he created a Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. He also resumed the approval of indigenous reserves, interrupted under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022). And achieved a drastic drop in deforestation, which had jumped under his far-right predecessor.

The Bolsonaro family “is a threat to me and my family”

The latter is the father of his main rival in Sunday's election, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. The Bolsonaro family “is a threat to me and my family,” says Tatiane Costa. “We, indigenous peoples, suffer a lot from environmental impacts,” adds Tainara da Costa Cruz, a 22-year-old woman with a face decorated with ritual paintings. She voted for Lula because he “defends our territory and nature”.

Images filmed on Friday show a large expanse of forest devastated by a fire in Iranduba, a town neighboring Manaus. Seen from the sky, the smoke carried by the wind hides the large expanses of emerald green vegetation, lacerated by the flames. According to data collected by satellites from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), a public body, the state of Amazonas, of which Manaus is the capital, was hit by 3,726 fires in September. This is almost four times more than in September 2025.

In 2024, El Niño had already caused a drought favoring exceptional forest fires in Brazil. The Brazilian government announced at the end of July that it had released 1.3 billion reais (around 330 million euros) for prevention of this climatic phenomenon. “Brazil has never been so prepared to face El Niño,” Lula declared in early September, while acknowledging that “we do not yet know what its magnitude will be.”