BRAZIL: Brazilians react to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's resounding victory in second round voting

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva heads into another four-year term with a strong mandate after winning re-election in a landslide that few thought possible just a month ago. Lula, as Brazil's first working-class president is universally known, won 60.8 percent of the votes in Sunday's election while his opponent, Geraldo Alckmin of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, took 39.2 percent. The resounding victory capped a remarkable comeback for Lula, who was expected to win the election in the first round of balloting on Oct. 1 but failed because of voter disgust over an ethics scandal involving his Workers' Party. "The people really voted for him and that he may show real loyalty to the people," one Rio de Janeiro resident said on Monday (October 30). However, not everyone was so optimistic. "I thought the Brazilians made one more example of stupidity, because with so many scandals in Lula's government, the public reelected him," said another Rio resident. Sunday's result was almost a mirror image of the 2002 race, when the charismatic former factory worker and labor leader was elected with 61 percent of the vote and marched into the presidential palace on a tide of popular euphoria. Lula, who went hungry as a boy, promised to govern Brazil for all but said that reducing poverty would be the focus. "The poorest will have the preference of the public politics of our government," he said in a victory speech in Sao Paulo. With the acrimonious campaign behind him, Lula pledged to work with opposition leaders to build a coalition in Congress and ensure that crucial legislation passes. "I'm going to call everyone in to talk. No one will be turned away," he said. Alckmin, a former governor of Sao Paulo state, had emerged energized from the first round after forcing a run-off. But the extra campaigning ended up favoring Lula, who painted his opponent as a heartless bureaucrat who would slash welfare programs and sell off strategic state companies. Lula, 61, also used the time to showcase the social programs that have made him so popular with the poor and working class in this vast country of 185 million people. The vote suggested that Lula's appeal to ordinary Brazilians, coupled with economic gains on his watch that have helped lift millions out of poverty, outweighed disillusionment with the political sleaze that tarnished his first term. Unlike several other elections in Latin America this year, Brazil's offered no widely different political visions. Both candidates campaigned on similar platforms, pledging to maintain economic stability while working to 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.

ITN Source | October 30, 2006

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