Brazil’s 1922 election contains lessons for this year

President Jair Bolsonaro, who has yet to lead former head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in any opinion poll this year, has made no secret of his intent to muck up the results of this year’s election. 

His authoritarian refrain is by now familiar: the same voting machines that produced his victory in 2018 are now suspect, “the left” is conspiring with the press and other branches of government to oust him illegitimately, foreign powers aligned against Brazilian interests are moving to support his leading opponent, and so on. 

Nevertheless, unless something drastically changes, Brazil seems set to begin 2023 with renewed progressive leadership. This most likely outcome does not mean, of course, that surprises are out of the question. 

A century ago, Brazilians went to the polls to choose a new president (granted, a much smaller fraction of the population than will vote this October). Drawing support from Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Bahia, and the Federal District, Nilo Peçanha led a coalition known as the Reação Republicana, or Republican Reaction, which formed in 1921 to support his candidacy. 

Mr. Peçanha had been a congressman, senator, governor, foreign minister, and president for 17 months from 1909 to...