Populism: three steps forward, two-and-a-half steps back

The driving force in this populist wave is a thinly disguised alliance between a very rich elite and the resentful, downwardly-mobile parts of the old middle and working classes.

Brazil's incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro was only five points behind his rival in the first round of the presidential election on Oct. 2. In Brazilian politics, the candidates in the lead often fall behind in the second round.Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

October 6, 2022

LONDON, U.K.—The reports about Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva’s impending comeback as Brazilian president verged on the ecstatic in the week before the Oct. 2 vote. He was after all, 14 points ahead of his populist rival, incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, in the last opinion poll before the ...

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