They went into the first round of Brazil’s presidential election full of optimism. They were enormously confident that the veteran Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would secure a first-round victory. In fact, even an outright win did not seem far-fetched to them. But election night on October 4 ended in colossal disappointment for 23-year-old Rhian Silva, for Julia de Oliveira Szöke, 25, both history students, and for the Brazilian left as a whole. Shocked, Silva allowed himself only a brief period of mourning before springing into action after Lula called for mass mobilization.

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While the keynote speaker is closing the rally, her own fans are waiting for her at the back exit. Dozens of young people press onto the road, cell phones in hand. As she appears among the crowd, pandemonium breaks out. There are excited screams — everyone wants a selfie. The lawmaker walks confidently on stiletto heels. Escorted by three bodyguards, her straight, caramel-colored hair stands out in the throng. She twists her body to pose with this person and that one. She smiles. She advances slowly, head held high, toward the black car, followed by her own cameraman. “Erika, Erika, Erika…,” they chant. Erika Hilton, 33, steps into the armored vehicle and disappears into this drizzly São Paulo night.

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Twenty million families living in poverty will begin receiving extra cash this week, just days before the runoff in Brazil’s closely contested presidential election. The 15% increase in payments from Bolsa Família (the Workers Party’s flagship anti-poverty program) that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced in September, shortly before the first round of voting, is reaching the pockets of the neediest just ahead of Sunday’s runoff vote.

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With just over a week to go until Brazil’s closely contested presidential election, the picture remains much the same as it has for months: a dead heat.

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