Lula da Silva is at the start of her term but is already considering re-election in 2026.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who just turned six months and a week into his third term, is already considering running for a fourth in the 2026 presidential election. And at age 77, he says he was inspired by a conversation he had he was with US President Joe Biden, 80, who has already announced his re-candidacy in next year’s US presidential election.

“The other day I went to Hiroshima (in Japan, as a guest at the G7 summit), met with President Biden and asked if it was true that he would run (for the next US presidential election). And then I thought this was an incentive, I’m younger than him,” Lula told SBT, Brazilian Television System.

Commanding a coalition government of at least 14 parties and several of his ministers dreaming of running for president in 2026 when Lula is 81, the president has been encouraged by his Workers’ Party, PT. to put forward his candidacy now, to obstruct the power project of these allies. And, even while admitting that it was too early to nominate himself, Lula, under the pretense of keeping his executive members focused on governance, tried to abandon the campaign intentions of his current ministers, signaling that their position would be in jeopardy if they were put forward as potential candidates. and threaten his own candidacy.

“I will not allow my minister to engage in politics ahead of schedule. Only after March or April 2026 (the date when government officials who want to be candidates must leave these functions), if the minister wants to be a candidate and leaves the government, then he can be a candidate.” — Vinku Lula, who during the 2022 presidential election, when he was elected for a third term, assured voters that he would not run for re-election in 2026 because, he thought then, he was already too tired and wanted to enjoy the rest of his life.