For many in Brazil, Lula was the best of two bad options
But the victory for the leftist former steelworker, who led the country before going to prison four years ago, shows how populist authoritarians can be beaten.
In what must be one of the most remarkable comebacks in modern political history, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva narrowly won the runoff of Brazil’s presidential election.
On October 30, the leftist former steelworker – who led the country from 2003 to 2010 then spent from April 2018 to November 2019 in prison, before his corruption convictions were overturned – took 50.9 per cent of the vote to the far-right Jair Bolsonaro’s 49.1 per cent.
