On October 2nd Brazil had its first round of presidential elections. Former president Lula got 48.43% of the vote and incumbent Bolsonaro got 43.2% of the vote. Because neither candidate got over 50% of the vote, the country will go to a runoff vote on October 30th. Fair to say that many people around the world, and not only in Brazil, are on the edge of their seats, awaiting the results of the elections. There is so much at stake. Why did Lula not win outright in the first round as some had predicted? What are the themes of the campaign? What are Brazilians talking about? Will Bolsonaro try to discredit the elections if he loses?

To talk about all of this, we are joined by a returning guest, Julia Blunck. Julia was on the show a few months ago when we talked about the biographies of the two main presidential candidates, Lula and Bolsonaro. Julia is a writer, translator, political analyst and, it is safe to say, very funny twitterer. Julia has written some very insightful texts for Prospect Magazine, The Social Review, and The New Statesman.

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