Lula: The story behind this trend in Social Media today
05-10-2026
The social media conversation around Lula today is driven by the first round of Brazil’s 2026 presidential election, held yesterday, 4 October.Incumbent president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party finished second. With nearly all votes counted, Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, took roughly 47 percent of valid votes (about 56 million), while Lula took about 45 percent (about 54 million). Neither reached the majority needed to win outright, so the race goes to a runoff on 25 October.The result surprised many observers. Polls in the final days had generally shown Lula slightly ahead or the two candidates essentially tied, and Lula himself said afterward that he had expected to win in the first round and called the outcome unexpected. Turnout was about 79 percent, with roughly 21 percent abstaining. Other candidates were far behind, together under 8 percent, so most of the remaining votes in the second round are expected to come from right-leaning voters and from people who stayed home.What spread on social media was Lula’s immediate reaction. Speaking in São Paulo, he said he is “very good in the mata-mata” and in a head-to-head contest, told Bolsonaro supporters to prepare because his side would defeat them, and urged the millions who abstained to turn out. “Mata-mata” is the Brazilian term for a knockout stage, so the line framed the runoff as the setting where he claims to be strongest. The clip and the phrase circulated widely among both supporters and critics, alongside campaign slogans such as “é 13” (his electoral number) and competing posts attacking or defending the result.The broader story is continuity of the polarized Lula–Bolsonaro divide. Lula is seeking a fourth term after defeating Jair Bolsonaro in 2022. Flávio Bolsonaro ran while his father serves a long prison sentence related to the events after that election. First-round numbers also reversed the 2022 order: Lula had led the first round then and finished with more votes than he received this time. Both campaigns are now focused on the three-week runoff, with social media filled by mobilization appeals, claims about who has momentum, and arguments over the economy, security, and the meaning of the first-round totals.