After two successive presidential terms, the leader of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) – the Workers’ Party – Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, left office in 2011. After his first electoral victory in 2002, many observers of the Brazilian political arena expected a radical shift in the country’s public policies towards the left. These expectations were rapidly toned down by the moderate nature of the policies and changes implemented under Lula’s first government.