{
  "id": 18732578,
  "title": "Brasilien: Was linke Wahlstrategen von Lulas Sieg lernen können",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/brasilien-was-linke-wahlstrategen-von-lulas-sieg-lernen-konnen",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-11-07T15:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Handelsblatt",
    "slug": "handelsblatt",
    "url": "https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/brasilien-was-linke-wahlstrategen-von-lulas-sieg-lernen-koennen/100267105.html"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "Brasilian left-wing politicians are learning valuable lessons from Lula's electoral success. The victory in Brazil has demonstrated what is possible not only in the United States but also in other regions. Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish acting prime minister, believes that the progressive comeback worldwide is just beginning and invited Brazilian politician André Janones to his country. Janones, who organized Lula's digital campaign, mobilized millions of supporters for the presidential election in October. Now, the Spanish Socialists aim to support the parliamentary elections at the end of November. In France, the left movement of Jean-Luc Mélenchon is also inspired by Janones' methods. Antoine Léaument, a French legislator, confirms: \"This mobilization technique is excellent.\" The innovation is that WhatsApp has become the command center of a voluntary mass movement, turning passive recipients of political messages into millions of campaign volunteers. Currently, a WhatsApp channel organized in the Brazilian model has over 160,000 subscribers in France. Will the digital campaign in Brazil become the model for left-wing movements worldwide? The right is challenging itself with its own means What fascinates the left in Europe and Latin America is the new form of digital mobilization that 42-year-old Janones used to radically change the campaign in the last three weeks before Lula's runoff. For the first time, Janones managed to challenge the digital superiority of the right and quickly catch up on the two million-vote deficit. Lula finally won the election with more than four million votes against the right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro. Janones made a bold fashion statement by wearing yellow, the Brazilian national football team's colors, instead of the red of Lula's Workers' Party. This symbolized how skillfully Janones appropriated the right's tools, defeating them with his own weapons. After the second round of voting on October 25th, Janones had free rein to restructure the digital campaign and took advantage of it. In just three weeks, he built up the WhatsApp channel \"Exército do Lula\" (Lula's Army) from 50,000 to over ten million subscribers. He gave himself the title of \"General,\" his supporters \"soldiers,\" and issued daily mission instructions via voice messages: spread videos, comment on Instagram posts, boost hashtags, or enter specific search terms into Google. \"Explodam!\" (Exploding!) was his command. He also asked Lula supporters to wear the national team's jersey and make the L-sign with their thumb and forefinger. On the day of the first TV debate alone, Janones sent 369 messages, including 47 voice messages. Passive recipients became campaign volunteers In the Brazilian election campaign, WhatsApp was used for the first time as the command center of a voluntary mass movement. Passive citizens turned political messages into millions of campaign volunteers. Guilherme Russo from the opinion research institute Quaest confirms: \"No one has done this before in Brazil.\" Until now, the internet had been the domain of the right. Jair Bolsonaro, the former president who was convicted for attempting a coup in 2018, primarily mobilized his supporters through digital networks, many of whom almost worshiped the former army captain. His son, Flávio, also used digital media for his campaign. Right-wing influencers were elected in the parliamentary elections with millions of votes. Janones summarized the situation in the \"Carta Capital\" magazine: \"They set the narrative, and we followed them.\" But the left had learned. \"Who masters the algorithm masters politics. Who wins on social networks wins in the real world,\" Janones believes that the power balance has changed permanently. He even dares to predict: \"The extreme right will never regain dominance on social networks. Bolsonaro's mistakes were posted millions of times. The fair assessment of Lula's surprising surge to victory also includes Lula's own performance, which Janones describes as a born communicator. \"He is like Messi, who needs a few quick players to support him,\" compares him to Argentina's football star.",
  "summary": "Durch den Wahlsieg in den USA fühlen sich linke Parteien weltweit beflügelt. Wollen sie die Stimmung in Wahlergebnisse umwandeln, lohnt sich der Blick auf Brasilien.",
  "key_points": [
    "Pedro Sánchez invites Brazilian politician André Janones to Spain for parliamentary elections.",
    "French left movement inspired by Janones' digital campaign methods.",
    "WhatsApp became command center for Brazilian left-wing movement in election campaign."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}