Lula has vowed to undo Bolsonaro's legacy, including pro-gun policies and weakened environmental protections in the Amazon rainforest, which have left Latin America's largest nation increasingly isolated on the global stage.
Brazilian leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a third presidential term in a remarkable comeback for the country's first working-class president, whose storied political career nearly ended in prison.
Lula called his victory over far-right President Jair Bolsonaro by a tight margin in a runoff on Sunday a "resurrection."
Here are 5 key things to know about Brazil's returning leader:
1. Dramatic comeback after over a decade
Lula won the presidential race in October 2002, becoming Brazil's first working-class president.
During his time in office, Lula gained international praise for engaging with the world through Brazil's foreign policy and formed close ties with other regional left-wing leaders during the "pink tide" era - a period where many Latin American countries turned to the left.
His domestic policies such as the Bolsa Familia welfare programme helped slash extreme poverty and drive economic opportunities.
At this time of strong economic growth, Brazil's real currency strengthened against the US dollar.
Also during Lula's time in office, the authorities firmly clamped down on deforestation in the Amazon.
2. Corruption scandal
Lula left office in 2010 as a blue-collar hero who presided over a commodity-fueled economic boom that helped lift 30 million people out of poverty.
At the end of his time in office, his approval rating stood at an unprecedented 87 percent.
But he then became mired in a massive corruption scandal and he was jailed in 2018, the year Bolsonaro won.
He spent more than 18 months in prison before being freed pending appeal.
His convictions were thrown out last year by the Supreme Court, which found the lead judge on the case was biased.
3. Humble beginnings
Lula grew up in deep poverty, the seventh of eight children born to a family of illiterate farmers in the arid northeastern state of Pernambuco.
When he was seven, his family joined a wave of migration to the industrial heartland of Sao Paulo.
Lula worked as a shoeshine boy and peanut vendor before becoming a metalworker at the tender age of 14.
In the 1960s, he lost a finger in a workplace accident.
He rose quickly to become head of his trade union and led major strikes in the 1970s that challenged the then-military dictatorship.
In 1980, he co-founded the Workers' Party, standing as its candidate for president nine years later.
4. Lost three presidential bids before succeeding
Lula lost three presidential bids from 1989 to 1998, finally succeeding in 2002 and again four years later.
This year's run-off was his sixth presidential campaign.
5. Twice-widowed and a cancer survivor
The twice-widowed father of five survived throat cancer and in 2017 lost his wife of four decades, Marisa Leticia Rocco, to a stroke.
Lula has said he is again "in love as if I were 20 years old" with Rosangela "Janja" da Silva, a sociologist and PT activist whom he married in May.
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