How the streets and social media drove Lula to a historic comeback in Brazil

A viral WhatsApp channel and student-led protests played a key role in the veteran Brazilian leftist’s election victory

After the first round of the Brazilian presidential election three weeks ago, the leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reportedly told allies he could not understand how he finished second after a government he considered the best of his three terms.

A mood of dismay swept Brazil’s left, and because 9 million voters for the other candidates, all of them on the right, were expected to mostly transfer to senator Flávio Bolsonaro, analysts widely saw the far-right senator’s victory as certain.