The first tenure of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the president of Brazil began on 1 January 2003 when Lula was inaugurated as the 35th president, and ended on 1 January 2011. A Workers' Party candidate, it was his fourth candidacy for this office and after defeating the PSDB candidate, José Serra, with 61.27% of the valid votes in a second round. Lula was the first former worker to become president of Brazil, and he governed the country for two consecutive terms (2003 until 2006, and from 2007 until 2010). In October 2006, Lula was reelected to the presidency, defeating the PSDB candidate Geraldo Alckmin in the second round, obtaining more than 60% of the valid votes against 39.17% for his opponent. His term in office ended on 1 January 2011. Lula's government ended with record approval from the population, with more than 80% positive ratings.

Its main hallmarks were the maintenance of economic stability, the resumption of the country's growth, and the reduction of poverty and social inequality. His first presidency registered the highest average GDP growth in two decades, around 4.1%, and total growth was 32.62%. Per capita income grew 23.05%, with an average of 2.8%. The growth was driven by the rise in commodity prices, domestic demand, helped by programs like and the reduction in international interest rates. Despite economic growth, productivity has not increased along with it. Lula took office with inflation at 12.53% and delivered at 5.90%.

One of Lula's campaign platforms was the need for constitutional reforms. A relevant reform that took place during Lula's government was the approval of Constitutional Amendment 45, in 2004, which became known as the "Judiciary Reform".

His first presidency was also notable for the country's quest to host major sporting events. The 2007 Pan-American Games took place during his mandate. So did the choice of Brazil to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. The decisions generated controversy about the losses and legacies of each event.

In 2009, the penultimate year of the Lula administration, an annual study conducted by the NGO Transparency International reported that Brazil ranked 75th in a ranking of 180 countries on perceived corruption. The study gave Brazil a score of 3.7, which indicates corruption problems, according to the entity. Brazil got worse in the ranking between 2002 (score 4.0, 45th in the ranking) and 2009 (score 3.7, 75th in the ranking), having dropped 30 places. In 2008, The Economist'''s Democracy Index ranked Brazil the 41st most democratic country in the world.

Manifesto Still during the election campaign, Lula wrote the Letter to the Brazilian people where he assured that in case of his victory his party, the Workers', would respect national and international contracts. The letter was read on 22 June 2002 during a meeting about the party's government programme.

Inaugurations

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office on 1 January 2003, having been elected president in 2002. He was the second Brazilian president to take office on this date, the third president elected since the end of the military dictatorship, and the first socialist-oriented former worker to assume the Presidency of Brazil.

Lula's second inauguration took place on 1 January 2007. He was sworn in again with the vice-president, José Alencar. The ceremony began shortly after 4pm in the plenary of the National Congress in Brasilia and was presided over by then Senate President Renan Calheiros. As in the inauguration of the first mandate, the reelected president and vice-president read and signed the term of office, and then the national anthem was played by the Marine Band.

Internal policy Economy

Lula was elected in a difficult economic context, and his administration began by following the economic policy of the previous government, FHC. To this end, he nominated Henrique Meirelles, a federal deputy elected by the PSDB of Goiás in 2002, to head the Brazilian Central Bank, sending a strong signal to the market – especially the international market, where Meirelles is well known for having been the president of Bank Boston – that there would be no abrupt changes in the conduct of economic policy in his government. He appointed Antônio Palocci, a sanitarian physician and former mayor of Ribeirão Preto, a member of the Workers' Party, as Minister of Finance. After repeated accusations against Palocci by the media, in the case known as , Palocci resigned (on 27 August 2009, the STF dismissed the accusation against Palocci). His replacement was the economist and university professor Guido Mantega, who took over the ministry on 27 March 2006.

The Lula administration was characterized by low inflation, which was under control, reduction in unemployment and constant records in the balance of trade. During President Lula's administration there was a record production in the automobile industry in 2005, the largest real growth in the minimum wage and reduction of the Gini coefficient.

In 2010, Alan Mulally, Ford's global president, stated that thanks to the incentive programmes of Lula's government, it was possible for the country to effectively come out of the world crisis. During the crisis the GDP retraction was only 0.2%, showing a better result than the major economies of the world.

The economic growth was driven by the commodities boom, the reduction in international interest rates, and the increase in domestic consumption, supported by the increase in the minimum wage and income transfer programmes such as .

Social policy In 2010, the IBRD stated that the country had advanced in reducing poverty and in income distribution. According to the institution, although social inequality was still high, the poverty rate had been reduced from 41% in 1990 to 25.6% in 2006, thanks to advances carried out by the administrations of Collor, Itamar, FHC and Lula. Some of the reasons for the reduction were said to be low inflation and income transfer programs.

Inequality between the richest and the poorest is said to have increased between 2001 and 2003, according to a publication by O Globo in February 2005. After Lula took office, however, a report by the IBGE at the end of November 2007 stated that President Lula's government was making Brazil a less unequal country. Based on the PNAD (National Household Sample Survey), the FGV published a study showing percentages comparing the period since the year Lula took office.

Between 2002 and 2007, Brazil, although it improved its HDI (Human Development Index) from 0.790 to 0.813, fell from 63rd place to 75th place in the world ranking of countries. The study is published by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), which explained the country's drop to 75th place by two factors: the entry of new countries into the survey and updated data, which benefited countries such as Russia. Countries considered to have "High Human Development" are those with an HDI above 0.800. In the survey referring to 2007, a new category of countries was included in the ranking: "Very High" HDI, with a figure above 0.900.

In the 2010 survey, the final year of the Lula administration, Brazil still stood in a distant 73rd position among 169 countries. Because of changes in methodology, the organizers of the survey emphasized that the 2010 HDI cannot be compared to the HDI of previous years, which used a different methodology. According to the report, Brazil's HDI shows a "trend of sustained growth over the years".

With regard to infant mortality, the Lula administration followed the downward trend that has been observed in Brazil since 1930. Between 1996 and 2000 the reduction was 20.5%, and between 2000 and 2004 the reduction was 15.9%.

The‘Light for All’ program was introduced to increase access to electricityThe Handbook of Global Energy Policy 2013, Editor: A. Goldthau, P.469 and a Unified Social Assistance system was set up, in which the state (as noted by one study) “effectively takes responsibility for the protection of the poorest.”The Brazilian Way of Doing Public Administration Brazil with an 's,' Editors: Erika Lisboa, Ricardo Corrêa Gomes, Humberto Falcão Martins In addition, the percentage of Brazilians covered by social security rose; from 45% to 51% during the course of Lula's first presidency.Reinventing the Left in the Global South The Politics of the Possible By Richard Sandbrook, 2014, P.161

Bolsa Família

A well-known social program of the Lula administration is Bolsa Família, created by Law No. 10,836 of 9 January 2004, and regulated by Decree No. 5,209 of 17 September 2004. The purpose of the program, which serves about 12.4 million inhabitants, is the direct transfer of income from the government to poor families (monthly income per person between R$ 69.01 and R$ 137.00) and those in extreme poverty (monthly income per person up to R$ 69.00). The program was a reformulation and expansion of the Bolsa Escola program of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration, which covered 5.1 million families. There are concerns that the program is a way of buying votes, that there is no strict control against fraud, and that there is a risk of it becoming a permanent source of income for beneficiaries. Despite this, Bolsa Família is also praised by specialists for being a financial complement to ease hunger for families in precarious financial situations. It is also identified as one of the factors that enabled families from the poorest classes to consume more products, which benefits the country's economy.

Bolsa Família was considered one of the main poverty-combat programs in the world, having been described as "an anti-poverty scheme invented in Latin America (that) is winning converts worldwide" by the British The Economist. According to the publication, governments all over the world are watching the program. The French newspaper Le Monde reported: "The Bolsa Família program above all expands access to education, which represents the best weapon, in Brazil or anywhere on the planet, against poverty."

Fome Zero

The Fome Zero program began as an attempt by the President of the Republic to mobilize the masses in favor of the neediest people in Brazil. The program caused the attention of international governments to turn to Brazil, and Luiz Inácio was highly praised by international organizations. The goal was the bold task of eradicating hunger in four years and reducing undernourishment by 2015. For a series of reasons, it was not fully carried out and was replaced by Bolsa Família.

Fome Zero was cited by critics as one of the main failures of the Lula administration, according to the Jornal do Brasil. It was, however, praised by the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, who, in 2010, during participation in the III Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, said that the program, together with Bolsa Família, made "a great difference" for Brazil.

Primeiro Emprego The Lula administration launched the Primeiro Emprego program in 2003, a campaign banner of Lula's 2002 election. However, the program did not take off: it was discontinued in 2006, having managed to employ fewer than 15,000 young people, when the initial plan was 260,000 vacancies per year. In 2007, the program, which gave advantages to companies that offered jobs to young people aged 16 to 24, was excluded from the PPA (Pluriannual Plan) 2008-2011 project. As the PPA guides budgets for each four-year period, this meant the end of funding for Primeiro Emprego from 2008 onward. In 2009, the government considered reviving the program, but there was no consensus on the matter.

Fight against slavery