The dude was literally in prison. There is no silver lining here. Just because the other was bad doesn't make it a good deal. There is a much longer and deeper discussion to be held here but to summarize: the right to vote without consequence or collateral makes it easy to abuse. A relative was a candidate at this election and hundreds of people walked into the committee asking how much would she pay for their vote. In broad daylight, no shame on it either.

As long as my vote matters as much as theirs, the wrong people will manipulate and skew the situation towards their needs. Lula is skilled at this, he negotiates with the people that matter. In a way, he reminds Frank Underwood in his maneuverability and lack of morals applying his tactics. From all the people that occupied high ranks in his party, only a handful of the gullible or unimportant were not incarcerated for corruption. From low ranking messagers to the minister in charge of his staff, the list would almost be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

With all that said, though, I believe most of the blame is within Brazilian culture itself. It's perceived as being street smart if you are able to take advantage of others, no matter how. People study hard to get public office jobs that they can't be fired from, so they can "relax" and have a comfortable life with minimum effort. The state ends up being overstaffed and barely doing the minimum, all when millions get paid to pretend it's not their fault. Maybe a handful of well educated and informed generations might start to improve this but I doubt it. It's in our nature to do this with "jeitinho", loosely translated to "our little way"