BRAZIL: Brazilians react to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva failing to win in first round of election

Nagging corruption scandals thwarted Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's hopes of clinching a first-round election victory and he now faces a high-stakes run-off against an inspired rival. Lula, Brazil's first working-class president, failed to get over 50 percent of the votes needed for an outright win in Sunday's election, setting up a showdown with opposition challenger Geraldo Alckmin on October 29. "I don't know if he (Lula) is going to lose but I think it is going to be a hard fight, very close," Rio resident Almir Cunha, said on Monday (October 02). Lula finished with 48.6 percent of the vote in the first round while Alckmin took a better-than-expected 41.6 percent. Alckmin, who campaigned as a squeaky-clean alternative to the scandal-plagued Lula, was confident after the final results came in before dawn. Lula had appeared to be coasting to re-election, bolstered by the support of the poor and working class whose economic fortunes improved during his four-year term. But his popularity started dwindling two weeks ago after Workers' Party operatives were caught trying to buy a dossier aimed at linking Alckmin's party to a kickback scheme. The mischief rekindled memories of past wrongdoing by Lula's camp. When Lula was first elected in 2002 he pledged to clean up the murky world of Brazilian politics. Instead he has presided over a slew of corruption scandals that cost his chief of staff, his finance minister and other top aides their jobs. Recent polls have shown the charismatic former metalworker remains the second-round favorite. But another month of campaigning will give the opposition time to rally support and potentially dig up further evidence of shady campaign tactics by the ruling Workers' Party. Unlike several other elections in Latin America this year, Brazil's offered no widely differing political visions. Both Lula and Alckmin campaigned on similar platforms, pledging to adhere to conservative economic policies and reduce poverty. When Lula took office, panicky investors feared a wave of anti-business, populist policies. Instead, he emerged as a moderate alternative to more firebrand leftists like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. But the vote highlighted Brazil's glaring class differences. Alckmin, a button-down former governor of Sao Paulo state from the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, performed well in the more industrialised and prosperous southern states. In contrast, Lula finished strong in the poor states of the country's northeast, the region where he was born into poverty before migrating to Sao Paulo as a boy in search of work. Lula was set to meet with his campaign team early on Monday to plot a new strategy for the second round, which some analysts said could be grueling for the president. Fernando Collor de Mello, who resigned Brazil's presidency in 1992 to avoid impeachment, won a seat in the Senate. Paulo Maluf, who still faces corruption charges from his tenure as mayor of Sao Paulo, was elected to the lower house of Congress. Antonio Palocci, Lula's disgraced former finance minister, also ran for Congress.

ITN Source | October 2, 2006

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