Brazil elections: Lessons for Philippines’ opposition

Courageous and charismatic: A former labour union leader who came from humble roots, Lula survived multiple conspiracies by reactionary forces and refused to give up on his vision of a more just and democratic Brazil. — AP

“KING of Fake News.” That’s how new Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva – affectionately known as “Lula” – described his rival, Jair Bolsonaro, in a heated presidential debate on Oct 16. After all, Bolsonaro has been notorious for his fantastical claims and populist antics during his term (2018-2022), which took a particularly ugly turn at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and, unsurprisingly, in the run-up to his re-election bid. At one point, things got so problematic that Brazil’s federal police called on the country’s Supreme Court to charge Bolsonaro for spreading disinformation online.

During the election proper (held in two rounds, on Oct 2 and 30), disinformation reached a fever pitch with both sides making sensational and unfounded claims against each other: one side was falsely accused of satanism and another of cannibalism.