<p>Older voters praised for helping tip balance in leftwing president’s favour against far-right Flávio Bolsonaro in runoff</p><p>It had been nearly a decade since Celia de Oliveira Soares last voted, and months since the 101-year-old great-grandmother last left her home.</p><p>But on 25 October, when Brazil held what many considered its most <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/26/brazil-lula-vow-democracy-always-election-win">important presidential election</a> in decades, relatives helped Soares into a wheelchair and drove her to a nearby school to make sure the far-right candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, did not prevail.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/nov/05/unsung-heroes-behind-lula-surprise-election-triumph-brazil-runoff-bolsonaro">Continue reading...</a>