Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stunned the world with an election victory that has landed him an unprecedented fourth term in office.

Bets were on right-winger Flavio Bolsonaro to become Brazil's next president after his shock first-round win earlier this month.

But the leftist incumbent bounced back with an energetic runoff campaign, going on to win 51.8 percent of the vote.

How did 80-year-old Lula pull it off?

While the campaign reeled from the first-round defeat, students and young people immediately took to the streets.

Marching to slogans like "Bolsonaro never again," thousands of people turned out in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte to rally support for Lula, his social policies and his promise to defend minority rights.

"The mobilization of young people was fundamental," said Eduardo Grin, a political scientist at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV).

Lula's Workers' Party (PT) "managed to reconnect with that young audience," he told AFP.

The president himself said he had not seen anything like it since 1984, when a mass movement called for elections during Brazil's military dictatorship.

Lula called his first-round campaign the most "disorganized" in decades and overhauled his social media strategy ahead of Sunday's vote.

Source: https://iol.co.za/news/world/2026-10-27-how-did-brazils-lula-pull-off-another-election-win/