BRAZIL’S Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as president on Sunday. 

In his first address the new president, more commonly known as Lula, expressed optimism about plans to rebuild the country while pledging that members of outgoing Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right administration will be held to account.

Lula is assuming office for the third time after defeating incumbent Mr Bolsonaro’s re-election bid following a tight run-off victory on October 30 last year. 

“Our message to Brazil is one of hope and reconstruction,” Lula said in a speech in the Lower House of Congress after signing the document that formally gives him the presidency. 

“The great edifice of rights, sovereignty and development that this nation built has been systematically demolished in recent years. To re-erect this edifice, we are going to direct all our efforts.”

The president said he would send a report about the prior administration to all lawmakers and judicial authorities, revoke Bolsonaro’s “criminal decrees” that loosened gun control, and hold the prior administration responsible for its denialism in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We do not carry any spirit of revenge against those who sought to subjugate the nation to their personal and ideological designs, but we are going to ensure the rule of law,” Lula said. 

“Those who erred will answer for their errors, with broad rights to their defence within the due legal process.”

Mr Bolsonaro did not attend the swearing in ceremony, choosing to fly to the United States instead.

In place of Mr Bolsonaro, a group representing diverse segments of society performed the role of presenting Lula with the presidential sash.

For months, Mr Bolsonaro had sown doubts about the reliability of Brazil’s electronic vote and he has never formally conceded defeat.

Many of his supporters have gathered outside military barracks since the elections to plead with the armed forces to prevent Lula from taking office.

Lula has said his priorities are fighting poverty and investing in education and health. He has also said he will bring illegal deforestation of the Amazon to a halt. 

In his first act as president on Sunday, Lula signed a decree to tighten gun control and set a 30-day deadline for the comptroller-general’s office to evaluate various of Mr Bolsonaro’s decrees that placed official information under seal for 100 years. 

He also signed a decree that guaranteed a monthly stipend for poor families, and re-established the Amazon fund for sustainable development in the rainforest.