‘Olê, olá, Lula!’ Brazil’s voters sing for a heroic comeback to banish Bolsonaro

"As their champion came into view, the throng chanted back a refrain from old times: “Olê, olê, olê, olá, Lula, Lula!”

Virtually identical spectacles played out two decades ago as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva prepared to claim a momentous election victory in 2002 that would make him the first working-class president of one of the world’s most unequal nations.

But this was September 2022 and the factory worker who became a left-wing legend was battling to complete a sensational political comeback that would return him to the presidency at the age of 77.

“Get your new Bermudas ready! Get your new shirts ready! Because on 1 January, I’ll be taking power!” Lula told the thousands of supporters who had come to see him in Nova Iguaçu, a down-at-heel city north of Rio."

read report by tom phillips

‘Olê, olá, Lula!’ Brazil’s voters sing for a heroic comeback to banish Bolsonaro | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | The Guardian