Key Facts

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the presidential runoff with 51.79% of the vote against Flavio Bolsonaro's 48.21%, turning a first-round deficit of 2.2 million votes into a lead of about 4.4 million. After trailing 45.2% to 47% in the first round, hurt by 21% abstention, the highest since 1998, Lula recovered through student and youth street mobilisation against Bolsonarism, a campaign shake-up, a WhatsApp network called 'Lula's Army' with 10.8 million followers, and a message focused on shorter working hours, debt relief and higher Bolsa Familia payments. The Hindu's analysis notes that it was the first defeat of a Trump-backed candidate in Latin America during Mr. Trump's second term and that the result is good news for BRICS and multilateralism.

GK Context

Brazil elects its President by a two-round system when no candidate wins a majority, and voting is compulsory for most adults. Brazil is a founding member of BRICS, and the New Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai, is headed by former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Brazil's capital is Brasilia and its currency is the real. Bolsa Familia is Brazil's conditional cash transfer programme for poor families.