Veteran leftist President Lula was widely expected to be crushed by the son of the former right wing evangelical leader Jair Bolsonaro in the second round of voting.
Instead Lula claimed a remarkable victory by weaponising his humble roots, TikTok and his opponent’s links to Donald Trump. He defied the Latin American swing to the right and was congratulated by other world leaders, apart from Trump. But his opponent has yet to concede and Lula’s victory has made the Brazilian Rial tumble and the stock market suffer its biggest fall in three decades.