Comeback kid: How did Brazil veteran-leader Lula upset Bolsonaro?

Two days shy of his 81st birthday… Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva emerging as the comeback kid. Coming from behind in the polls after a bitter campaign where he often showed his age, Lula becoming the first candidate since Brazil’s return to democracy in the 1980s to win the presidential runoff after trailing in the first round. How did the Workers Party leader turn a 2-point-2 million vote deficit against the far-right's Flavio Bolsonaro into a 4-point-4 million vote win? Reminder that three short weeks ago, most races at the federal and state level broke the way of conservatives and the far-right? 

More broadly, how did Lula break the right’s winning streak in the Americas? While blasting Meta and accusing the US and its tech titans of meddling, the incumbent managed to turn around his own digital campaign the time of a runoff campaign. We'll ask about Congressman André Janones who organized in a hurry on Meta-owned WhatsApp. How does the powerhouse of Latin America walk the line between the United States, its top trading partner China and the rest of the planet?

Speaking of the rest of the planet, it can be tempting to draw conclusions from Brazil's surprise result... this as the Middle East holds its breath over Tuesday’s general election in Israel, as the campaign gets nastier ahead of next week’s US midterms… with big elections coming up in Spain, Italy, Poland and here in France. Each case is of course different. So what can Lula's Brazil teach us?

Produced by François Picard, Maya Yataghène, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

Our guests

• Anelise Borges Freelance journalist

• Glauber SEZERINO Sociologist & Member, "Autres Brésils"

• Daniel LANSBERG-RODRIGUEZ Lecturer, Northwestern University and Managing Director of Aurora Macro Strategies

• Andrés MARTINEZ FERNANDEZ Latin America Senior Policy Analyst, The Heritage Foundation