Lula's Historic Brazil Election Win: Key Factors Behind His Fourth Term

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a historic fourth term as Brazil's president with nearly 52% of the vote, overturning a first-round deficit and adding over ten million votes, a result no poll had predicted. The former union leader, who turns 81 on Tuesday, benefited from strong youth mobilization against outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro, a digital strategy shift that included a WhatsApp channel with nearly eleven million members, and fears of the Bolsonaro family's return to power. Lula also leveraged state resources, including social measures like a two-day weekend reform and early Bolsa Familia payments, which critics called vote-buying, while Bolsonaro faces a 27-year prison sentence for a coup attempt after his 2022 loss.