Brazilians handed Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva a narrow victory in a bitter presidential election, giving the leftist former president another shot at power in a rejection of the far-right policies of incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Da Silva received 50.9% of the vote and Bolsonaro 49.1%, according to the country’s electoral authority. But the morning after the results came in — and congratulations poured in from world leaders — Bolsonaro had yet to publicly admit or react in any way, even as truckers blocked some roads across the country in protest. Bolsonaro’s campaign had made repeated – unproven – allegations of possible electoral manipulation ahead of the vote, raising fears that if he lost he would not accept defeat and try to challenge the results. For da Silva, the high-stakes election was a stunning comeback. His prison term for corruption sidelined him from the 2018 election won by Bolsonaro, who used the presidency to promote conservative social values while delivering inflammatory speeches and testing democratic institutions. “Today the only winner is the Brazilian people,” da Silva said in a speech Sunday night at a hotel in downtown Sao Paulo. “It is the victory of a democratic movement formed over political parties, vested interests and ideologies, so that democracy came out victorious.” Da Silva promises to govern beyond his party. He says he wants to bring in centrists, even some who lean right, and restore the kind of prosperity the country enjoyed when he last served as president from 2003-2010. However, it faces headwinds in a politically polarized society. Bolsonaro’s four years in office have been marked by avowed conservatism and defense of traditional Christian values. He claimed that his opponent’s return to power would lead to communism, legalize drugs, abortion and persecution of churches – things that did not happen during da Silva’s previous eight years in power. It was the country’s most difficult election since its return to democracy in 1985, and the first time a sitting president failed to win re-election. Just over 2 million votes separated the two candidates. the previous closest race, in 2014, was decided by about 3.5 million votes. Some of Bolsonaro’s supporters outside his home in Rio on Sunday night screamed of electoral fraud. And overnight, truck drivers supporting Bolsonaro blocked several roads across the country, including a section of the Rio de Janeiro-Sao Paulo highway, local media reported. Videos posted on social media early Monday morning showed traffic at a complete standstill. Similar reports appeared in several other states. Da Silva’s victory extended a wave of recent leftist triumphs across the region, including in Chile, Colombia and Argentina. The president-elect will inherit a nation turning against him after his inauguration on Jan. 1, said Thomas Trauman, an independent political analyst who compared Sunday’s results to a 2020 Biden victory. “Lula’s huge challenge will be to pacify the country,” he said. “People are not only polarized on political issues, but they also have different values, identities and views. Moreover, they don’t care what the other side’s values, identities and views are.” Among the world leaders offering congratulations on Sunday night was US President Joe Biden, who in a statement highlighted the country’s “free, fair and credible elections”. The European Union also praised the electoral authority for its efficiency and transparency throughout the campaign. Bolsonaro led throughout the first half of the race and, as Da Silva overtook him, cars on the streets of downtown Sao Paulo started honking their horns. People on the streets of Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema neighborhood could be heard shouting, “Come back!” Da Silva’s headquarters in the center of Sao Paulo’s hotel erupted as soon as the final result was announced, underscoring the tension that characterized this fight. “We’ve been waiting four years for this,” said Gabriela Suto, one of the few supporters allowed inside because of tight security. Outside Bolsonaro’s home in Rio, ground zero for his base of support, a woman on top of a truck said a prayer over a loudspeaker, then sang excitedly, trying to generate some energy as the toll grew for da Silva. But the supporters decked out in green and yellow barely responded. Many cheered when the national anthem played, singing loudly with their hands over their hearts. For months, da Silva appeared headed for an easy victory as he stoked nostalgia for his presidency when Brazil’s economy was booming. “We did not face an opponent, a candidate. We faced the machine of the Brazilian state that was put at its service so that we could not win the elections,” da Silva told the crowd in Sao Paulo. Da Silva built an extensive welfare program during his tenure as president that helped lift tens of millions into the middle class. The man known worldwide as Lula left office with an approval rating of more than 80%, prompting then US President Barack Obama to call him “the most popular politician on Earth”. But he is also remembered for his government’s involvement in massive corruption uncovered by extensive investigations. Da Silva was jailed for 580 days for corruption and money laundering. His convictions were later overturned by Brazil’s highest court, which ruled that the presiding judge was biased and cooperated with prosecutors. This enabled da Silva to run for president for a sixth time. The president-elect has pledged to establish a ministry for Brazil’s original peoples, headed by an indigenous person. But as da Silva tries to achieve these and other goals, he will face strong opposition from conservative lawmakers. Unemployment this year has fallen to its lowest level since 2015, and although headline inflation slowed during the campaign, food prices are rising at a double-digit rate. Bolsonaro’s welfare payments have helped many Brazilians get by, but da Silva is seen as the candidate most willing to keep aid going and raise the minimum wage. In April, he chose center-right Geraldo Alckmin, a former rival, to be his running mate. It was another key part of an effort to build a broad, pro-democracy front not just to topple Bolsonaro, but to make it easier to govern. Building bridges between a diverse — and divided — country will be key to his success, said Carlos Melo, a professor of political science at Insper University in Sao Paulo. “If Lula can talk to voters who didn’t vote for him, which Bolsonaro never tried, and seek negotiated solutions to the economic, social and political crisis we have,” Melo said, “then he could reconnect Brazil at a time when people could disagree and still do some things.”