How elderly ‘unsung heroes’ powered Lula’s historic fightback in Brazil

Older voters praised for helping tip balance in leftwing president’s favour against far-right Flávio Bolsonaro in runoff

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.

But on 25 October, when Brazil held what many considered its most important presidential election 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.

Soares clung to the banister as, step by step, she climbed two flights of stairs to the polling booth under the watchful eye of her granddaughter’s husband, Marcio Marques.