BRAZIL: Analysts and Brazilian voters have high hopes for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's second term in office

Fresh from a landslide re-election win, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faced the sobering challenge on Monday (October 30) of forging a broad governing coalition and kick-starting stalled reforms. Lula, as Brazil's first working-class president is universally known, won a strong mandate on Sunday (October 29) with 60.8 percent of votes against rival Geraldo Alckmin of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, who took 39.2 percent. The victory marked a remarkable comeback from a series of corruption scandals involving Lula's left-leaning Workers' Party over the past two years, which had threatened to end the political career of the former union leader. Lula was to meet with several state governors later on Monday in an attempt to seek common ground on economic reforms and help him secure the clear majority in Congress that has eluded him so far, partly because of lack of party discipline. Political analyst Clovis Brigagao said Lula has the chance of becoming the leader who finally guided the political and economic reform projects that Brazil needs in order to grow in compatible levels with the amount of riches it produces. "He has the chance to become the leader who guided the initially political reform projects, and the remaining state reform projects - of the Brazilian state that needs to be reformed - and economic (projects), so that it (Brazil) may go back to growing in compatible levels with the amount of riches we produce," he said. In order to govern with a majority, Lula's focus in coming weeks, Genro said, will be to lock in support from the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), which in recent years has been split between government and opposition. Brigagao also said there are voices, such as that of Tarso Genro, Lula's top political advisor, announcing that Lula will move towards a more developmental project, withdrawing from the rather conservative and monetarist economic plan he adopted in his first term, with Finance Minister Antonio Palocci. "We have heard voices, including that of Tarso Genro (Lula's top political advisor), that now Brazil has ended with the "Palocci Era", therefore with the monetarist and fiscal control era, and will march towards a more developmental project," he said. While Lula's large margin of victory should confer him some political capital, some analysts also cautioned that the president still faces an uphill battle to govern effectively. In order to govern with a majority, Lula's focus in coming weeks, Genro said, will be to lock in support from the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), which in recent years has been split between government and opposition. Hope and scepticism divide Brazilians with Lula's victory. Maria de Lourdes said Brazilians have largely supported Lula and that she hopes he may show his loyalty to the people. "The people really voted for him and that he may show real loyalty to the people," she said. But others, like Genesio Caetano, are more doubtful of Lula's capacity and think Brazilians have showed one more example of stupidity in re-electing the president after a number of corruption scandals. "I thought the Brazilians showed one more example of stupidity, because with so many scandals in Lula's government, the public reelected him," he said. Financial markets reacted cautiously to the election result on Monday, with the currency drifting lower and Sao Paulo's Bovespa stock index falling more than 1 percent in afternoon trading.

ITN Source | October 31, 2006

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