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COMMENTARY: Deciphering Lula’s historic Brazilian election victory

This was supposed to go down as one of the closest presidential elections in Brazilian history – until it wasn’t. In the end, 81-year-old leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers Party bested (by some four million votes) hard-right Liberal Party leader and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro by a lop-sided 3.5 per cent of the popular vote.

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Speaking of Brazilian history, it rarely happens that the second-place finisher in the first round ends up winning the second run-off contest in such a decisive manner. More significant, Lula has now won an unprecedented (non-consecutive) fourth term as an elected Brazilian president.

While Bolsonaro has waffled on making a concession speech (like his father in 2022), the writing on the wall clearly shows that he lost badly. Evidently, he has taken issue with a Justice of the Supreme Court ruling that extended the polling hours country-wide by an additional two hours in light of high voter turnout and other interruptions.

Flávio’s supporters, many galvanized around the “never Lula” camp, were desperate for change – even if it meant the kind of change that could turn Brazil on its head. So Lula resorted to one of the oldest political tricks in the campaign handbook – namely, using........

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