Lula makes history: inside the 30 October Guardian Weekly

How many grinning faces, jubilant crowds and celebrating politicians can you fit into a single issue of the Guardian Weekly? That’s not a question that often troubles us, but the spectacular triumph of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , winning a historic second-round vote after losing the first to rightwing opponent Flávio Bolsonaro, and the victory of the student-led campaign against autocrat Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia gave me a happy problem to solve this week.

In an era when the right seems to be riding high in the world, popular pushbacks against strongmen politicians is something to celebrate. For our Brazil cover story, Tom Phillips and Tiago Rogero report on the reaction to Lula’s victory and how he pulled eventual success from the jaws of what, until the first results came on Sunday evening, seemed a probable defeat.

As government health minister Alexandre Padilha said that evening: “It’s a massive victory – not just for Brazil. It’s also an important signal to the rest of Latin America and to the world.” But, as commentator Jordana Timerman cautions, Brazil has been an exception in Latin America in successfully resisting Donald Trump’s attempt to achieve hegemony over the region.

Serbia’s Sunday night passed in a similar fashion as Belgrade-based journalist Ana Milosavljević and our Europe community affairs correspondent, Ashifa Kassam , reported from the streets of Belgrade where young voters danced, and one explained that it felt like all her new year’s eves had come at once.

Another said: “It’s simply the realisation of our dream. We will remember this moment for the rest of our lives.” In a more sober analysis, Europe correspondent Jon Henley explores the issues that Student List, the hyper democratic collective that must now govern, may have once they are fully in power.

Complicated historical and geopolitical contexts to both elections require the in-depth reporting and analysis that the Weekly can bring together for our readers. We’ll be doing more of the same over the next few weeks as we cover Israel and the US. Thank you for supporting our journalism with your subscription.

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