Lula’s favourite faces runoff for Brazil presidency

BRASILIA - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s favoured successor, Dilma Rousseff of the workers’ party, fell short of an expected absolute majority in Sunday’s presidential elections.

She will will face a runoff against social democrat Jose Serra Oct 31.

The centre-left Rousseff, 62, a former guerrilla fighter and candidate of Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT), received 46 percent of the vote. Her closest rival, Serra, 68, son of an Italian immigrant and candidate of the centre-right Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB), received 33 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) said.

Election officials had counted nearly 95 percent of the vote, which was conducted electronically. Voter turnout was 82 percent among the 136 million registered voters, who by law are obligated to vote or explain why they do not.

Rousseff’s shortfall was an echo of the hugely popular Lula’s own elections as president in 2002 and 2006. Term limits keep him from running for a third consecutive term. Lula vowed Sunday that he would not run again for president.

As she cast her ballot in the southern city of Porto Alegre, Rousseff, who is Lula’s former chief of staff, thanked her mentor, party members and God for the chance to run for president. And she stressed that the results would be good for her whether or not she won the absolute majority Sunday.

If elected, she said, she would keep up Lula’s “commitment to the transformation” of Brazil, with a view to reducing regional inequalities and promoting “economic growth with income distribution and social inclusion”.

Rousseff, whose poll ratings projected a 51-percent win Sunday, also mentioned the lymphatic cancer that affected her last year, from which doctors say she is completely cured.

“I thank God for having given me strength,” she said.

Serra is the former governor of the state of Sao Paulo, the most powerful in Brazil. He started the campaign as the favourite but lost ground as Lula actively campaigned for Rousseff.

As he cast his ballot, Serra said he hoped for a runoff “for Brazil’s sake”.

Green Party (PV) candidate Marina Silva got a surprising 20 percent of the vote, with the remaining six candidates garnering the rest, according to the TSE. Silva, a former member of the PT and like Rousseff a former minister in Lula’s government, emerged as a likely decider in a potential runoff.

Aside from choosing a new president, set to be inaugurated Jan 1, 2011, Brazilians elected all 513 members of the lower house of Congress and 54 of their 81 senators, as well as the governors of all 26 states and the federal district of Brasilia.

“We had a calm election, with extremely few incidents and without acts of violence,” said TSE president Ricardo Lewandowski.

Still, according to the TSE, a total of 963 election-related incidents were reported. As a result, 394 people, including a former state governor and 25 other candidates for office, were arrested for alleged illegal campaigning or for attempting to buy votes, among other electoral crimes.

Polling stations in most of the country were open for nine hours from 1100 GMT. With microcomputers called “electronic ballot boxes” in place, the vote count was relatively quick.

Lula himself voted in the industrial city of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where he began his political career as a trade union leader. He hailed the day’s election as “an extraordinary moment for the consolidation of Brazilian democracy”, and also stressed that he had no intention to run for office again after he leaves the presidency Jan 1.

“Once you go through the presidency of the republic, you need calm,” he said.

Lula also noted that this was the first time since the return of democracy in 1985 when Brazilians have not had the option to vote for him for president. He lost his first three attempts in 1989, 1994 and 1998.

Former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002), of Serra’s social democratic party, accused Rousseff of being a puppet.

“You have to have real politicians, not puppets,” he denounced as he cast his vote in Sao Paulo.

Cardoso accused Rousseff of not being a leader herself.

“She is always standing beside the president,” he complained.