Workers' Party (PT) presidential candidate Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva with Fernando Haddad and Geraldo Alckmin, PT candidates for São Paolo governor and vice president, respectively / credit: Richard Matoušek

Bolsonaro and Lula Head to Second-Round Election Amid Brazil’s Contradictions

Some Brazilians’ desire to climb class rungs has helped win votes for incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro and his Liberal Party (PL) colleagues at the local and legislative levels of government. This, despite an appetite for progressive politics after four years of the “underpinnings and trappings of fascist rule” as well as hundreds of thousands of avoidable COVID-19 deaths. Richard Matoušek reports from São Paolo on what's next as the second-round presidential election looms in Brazil.