Challenges Ahead for Brazil in Post-Lula Era

Dilma Rousseff won Brazil’s recent presidential elections handily, benefitting from both the enthusiastic backing of the enormously popular incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and from the mobilization of historically disadvantaged voters excited by identification with a woman candidate. Despite some nasty exchanges with her second-round opponent, José Serra of the Social Democratic Party, the campaign was characterized by the lack of a clear programmatic separation between the two candidates. Although markets moderately preferred Serra, a casual observer might be excused for failing to see much daylight between the two. The fact that the two leading candidates for office differed […]