Algemeen·NRC·15 okt

Brazil is a right-wing country now

For most of the past quarter of a century Brazil was dominated by the Workers’ Party (PT). A left-wing alliance of trade-unionists, progressive Catholics and academics built a large welfare state and defined Latin America’s version of social democracy. That era is over. On October 4th the PT and its ageing leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, were trounced in the first round of Brazil’s general election by Flávio Bolsonaro and his Liberal Party (PL).