Lula's return: Brazil's left turn may be more muted this time

Lula's earlier popularity lay in his redistributive policies, but this time around, he will have to demonstrate an ability to negotiate the narrow path between populism and pragmatism

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s razor-thin victory over the extreme right-wing Jair Bolsonaro may not signal the kind of decisive turn to the left that had determined the Workers’ Party boss’s huge popularity during his two consecutive four-year terms between 2002 and 2010. Known mononymously as Lula, his 50.9 per cent to 49.1 per cent margin of victory suggests that South America’s largest country remains starkly divided, a reality that is clear from the fact that Mr Bolsonaro, the first incumbent to lose an election, is yet to officially concede. His associates, however, have held preliminary meetings with Lula’s camp,