Confidence and exuberance at Lula da Silva rally in Brazil – ‘We are in a battle and we are going to win’
Music, cheering, noise, chaos, and above all – dancing.
There is nothing quite like being on the Brazilian election trail.
Exuberant is the only word I can think of.
We joined the supporters of Lula da Silva in Sao Bernardo do Campo, a dormitory town on the edge of Sao Paulo city.
Enormous sound systems blared out the favourite Lula anthems, and people danced and cheered and sang along.
They came in their thousands to see the man they consider to be a saviour from the right-wing presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula, a former president, is bidding to stage a remarkable comeback to the top of the political ladder.
Arrested in 2018 on corruption charges, later quashed, he was consistently the most popular political leader in the world with approval ratings in the 80-90% range during his time in office from 2003 to 2011.
Many thought he could capture the presidency in the first round last Sunday, and he didn’t.
But, worse for both Lula and his party, President Bolsonaro confounded the polls and closed the gap to a handful of points.
Now everything is to play for in the days leading up to the decisive second round on 30 October.
Despite that exuberance on the streets, Lula’s team were shocked by how much the president made up ground. But the people we talked to in the crowds say they still believe in their man.
“We’re going to fight for him. I’m fighting,” says 61-year-old Maria Francisca Neves.
Maria
Maria has travelled from the Jardim Limpao favela, where she lives. She is unemployed and says she and many others are struggling to survive.
“We want them to fight for us, for us to be able to eat meat again, to have our table full of food, for us to have a glass of milk to drink in the morning and be able to give that to our children, to be able to go to university…”
“We are in a battle, and we are going to win. Lula will get there, I have faith in God, I thank God!” she added passionately.
Erivan (left)
Another supporter, Erivan Paulino de Souza, said he would have preferred Lula had won in the first round to put an end to the tension.
“But everything we have achieved in our lives has been through fighting – we go and conquer, nothing has ever been easy for us,” he explained.
“This is not the first election that has gone to the second round, and so we will fight until the end.”
Lula da Silva
They all waited in the blistering heat for hours when, finally, he appeared from the side door of the union building on the street where he was arrested in 2018.
He was helped onto the back of a truck, joined by politicians from his Workers’ Party.
And so began a chaotic caravan through the streets of the town.
This is the first time Lula has been back on the campaign trail since he failed in that first round, and they loved it.
The streets were jammed with supporters, waving flags, and dancing. Many were trying to touch Lula or to at least get his attention.
A huge cheer erupted when the would-be president began taking photos of the crowd with a professional camera.
Almost certainly a move to underline his basic campaign message that he is for the people and part of the people.
He has certainly aged and is not the energetic president of the past, but he still shows the touch of the ‘man of the people’ which has proved so popular for so long.
The real question though is whether his type of politics can appeal to an electorate that is already terribly divided.
Followed by thousands, we watched as Lula and his entourage and political colleagues wound their way through the streets.
Shoppers and shop owners watching on as this loud parade made its way to a nearby square.
Most held their hands in the air with their thumb and index fingers in the shape of an L.
L for Lula, they say, and L for love.
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Once the caravan got to the square, the 76-year-old addressed the crowd, promising not to give up, and warning against the spread of misinformation.
“You know that our adversary’s speciality is to lie, seven or eight lies a day through fake news, through zap (WhatsApp), through any other way to talk to people.
“In the next 24 days, you have to be alert, you need to know how to tell truth from the lies,” he said.
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‘Too poor to vote’ in Brazil election
Presidential elections are often won by the candidate with momentum.
In truth President Bolsonaro grabbed that momentum when he drew near to his adversary.
Lula needs new momentum now. And he and his team hope that this is the start.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation.
The 53-year-old said he will step down as leader of the country’s ruling Liberal Party, which he has led since 2013.
He says it will allow his party to choose a new leader as he suspends parliament until March due to political deadlock.
Chrystia Freeland, seen on the day she quit as finance minister and deputy prime minister in December. Pic: Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP
Follow live: Justin Trudeau announces resignation
Speaking to reporters in front of his residence at Rideau Cottage, in the country’s capital, Ottawa, he said “internal battles” mean that he “cannot be the best option” in the next election.
“I don’t easily back down faced with a fight, especially a very important one for our party and the country. But I do this job because the interests of Canadians and the well-being of democracy is something that I hold dear.
“A new prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party will carry its values and ideals into that next election. I am excited to see that process unfold in the months ahead.”
Former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, is among the favourites to succeed him.
Chrystia Freeland, whose stunning resignation as finance minister and deputy prime minister precipitated the current crisis, leads in the polls.
Other front-runners are the former premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark, current finance minister Dominic LeBlanc and minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly.
Mr Trudeau, who has been prime minister since 2015, faced calls to quit from a chorus of his MPs amid poor showings in opinion polls.
He came under further pressure after Ms Freeland quit in December because of policy disagreements, including over how to handle possible US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump‘s incoming administration.
Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump in Italy in 2017. Pic: AP
Mr Trudeau’s resignation comes as the polls show his party is likely to suffer a heavy defeat to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.
The Liberals must now name an interim leader to take over as prime minister ahead of a special leadership convention.
Mr Trudeau came to power 10 years ago following a decade of Conservative Party rule and was initially praised for returning the country to its liberal past.
But he has become deeply unpopular with voters in recent years over a range of issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing and surging immigration.
He is the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers, who led the country from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984.
The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada internationally.
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US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if Ottawa does not stem what Mr Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs into the US.
Many fewer of each cross into the US from Canada than from Mexico, which Mr Trump has also threatened.
In a social media post on Christmas Day, Mr Trump even suggested the US could take control of Canada, as well as Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Canada is a major exporter of oil and natural gas to the US, which also relies on its northern neighbour for steel, aluminium and autos.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation.
The 53-year-old said he will step down as leader of the country’s ruling Liberal Party, which he has led since 2013.
He says it will allow his party to choose a new leader as he suspends parliament until March due to political deadlock.
Chrystia Freeland, seen on the day she quit as finance minister and deputy prime minister in December. Pic: Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP
Follow live: Justin Trudeau announces resignation
Speaking to reporters in front of his residence at Rideau Cottage, in the country’s capital, Ottawa, he said “internal battles” mean that he “cannot be the best option” in the next election.
“I don’t easily back down faced with a fight, especially a very important one for our party and the country. But I do this job because the interests of Canadians and the well-being of democracy is something that I hold dear.
“A new prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party will carry its values and ideals into that next election. I am excited to see that process unfold in the months ahead.”
Mr Trudeau, who has been prime minister since 2015, faced calls to quit from a chorus of his MPs amid poor showings in opinion polls.
He came under further pressure after his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned in December over clashes on policy.
The disagreements included how to handle possible US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump‘s incoming administration.
Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump in Italy in 2017. Pic: AP
Mr Trudeau’s resignation comes as the polls show his party is likely to suffer a heavy defeat to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.
The Liberals must now name an interim leader to take over as prime minister ahead of a special leadership convention.
Mr Trudeau came to power 10 years ago following a decade of Conservative Party rule and was initially praised for returning the country to its liberal past.
But he has become deeply unpopular with voters in recent years over a range of issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing and surging immigration.
He is the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers, who led the country from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984.
The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada internationally.
Read more:
Former golden boy’s popularity in shreds
Zimbabwean migrants heading to South Africa
60m Americans under weather warnings
US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if Ottawa does not stem what Mr Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs into the US.
Many fewer of each cross into the US from Canada than from Mexico, which Mr Trump has also threatened.
In a social media post on Christmas Day, Mr Trump even suggested the US could take control of Canada, as well as Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Canada is a major exporter of oil and natural gas to the US, which also relies on its northern neighbour for steel, aluminium and autos.
Few one-time golden boys manage to retain their lustre long into political office.
Barack Obama just about held on to his, leaving the US presidency with his approval rating high despite his party’s 2016 loss to Donald Trump.
But Emmanuel Macron is faltering in France and Justin Trudeau steps down as head of Canada’s liberal party with his popularity in shreds. So much for Western liberal values.
In the high tides of inflation and immigration, those who were their supposed flag-bearers are no longer what electorates want.
Follow live: Justin Trudeau announces resignation
For Mr Trudeau, it is a dramatic reckoning. His approval ratings have dropped from 65% at their highest in September 2016 to 22% now, according to the “Trudeau Tracker” from Canada’s non-profit Angus Reid Institute.
The sudden departure of his finance minister and key political ally Chrystia Freeland last month dealt his leadership a body blow, just as Canada readies itself for a potential trade war with the US which, she argued in a bracing resignation letter, his government was not taking seriously enough.
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“Parliament has been paralysed for months,” Trudeau says
The man Mr Trump recently trolled as “Governor of the ‘Great State of Canada’ or ’51st (US) state'”, Mr Trudeau was as close to Canadian political royalty as it gets.
The son of the country’s 15th prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, he was famously toasted by US president Richard Nixon as “the future prime minister of Canada” when he joined his father on a state visit as a toddler.
Aged five, he met the late Queen for the first time. “Thank you for making me feel so old”, she remarked drily at a re-meet in Malta almost 40 years later.
He has led Canada’s liberal party since 2013 and served as the country’s 23rd prime minister for almost a decade.
Mr Trudeau won a resounding electoral victory in 2015 and secured the premiership through two subsequent elections, though as head of a minority government.
Mr Trudeau, his wife and children celebrate after he won the Federal Liberal leadership in 2013 in Ottawa. Pic: AP/The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld
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He made significant inroads against poverty in Canada, worked hard on nation to nation reconciliation with Canada’s indigenous communities, secured an effective trade deal with the US and Mexico in 2016 and managed to keep the public mostly on-side through the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he was a polarising figure. Holidays in exotic climes like a trip to the Bahamas in 2016 to an island belonging to the Aga Khan made him seem elitist and out of touch.
There was embarrassment when blackface images surfaced from his early years as a teacher, for which he apologised profusely.
His supposed liberal credentials smacked of double standards when he invoked emergency powers to crush truckers’ protests in 2022.
But it was the economic aftermath of the pandemic, with Canada suffering an acute housing shortage, immigration leaping under his premiership and the cost of living hitting households across the board which really piled on the pressure.
In those, Canada is not unique. But the opposition conservatives and the public at large clearly want change, and Mr Trudeau has responded.
He has announced his intention to resign as party leader and prime minister after the Liberals selects their next leader.
Mr Trudeau’s legacy may shine brighter with a little hindsight. But now is not that moment.
The question is whether his conservative opposition will fare any better in an increasingly combative geopolitical environment if, as seems likely, a candidate of their choosing wins a federal election due at some point this year.
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