Some 126 million Brazilians were called to cast their ballots yesterday in a race that was likely to give a second term to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Silva da Lula, a self-styled champion of the downtrodden.
Lula, 60, a former strike leader who has distanced himself from his radical past, held a commanding lead in opinion polls over his closest and far less charismatic rival, former Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin, 53.
But it was unclear whether Lula would be able to win outright yesterday, after the polls out on the eve of the voting showed his support slipping, leaving him right on the brink of the 50 percent needed to avert a run-off election.
Second run-off?
Stacks of dirty money nabbed in a botched smear campaign covered Brazil's front pages on Saturday as polls showed for the first time that Lula could be forced to a second round run-off.
Two polls released on Saturday night, the last before yesterday's first round vote, showed that Lula's total share of the valid vote continues to dwindle and Alckmin is closing ground fast.
His slide in the polls coincides with the "dossier" scandal that has been gaining momentum in the media over the past two weeks, the latest of a series of scandals that have dogged Lula and his Workers' Party over past two years.
In the middle of last month, two Workers' Party officials were arrested with almost US$800,000 in cash as they allegedly sought to buy documents they thought might tie Alckmin to a corrupt deal.
Another scandal, over illegal campaign financing, had forced several Cabinet ministers and Workers Party officials to resign last year.
The Ibope poll showed Lula with 45 percent of the vote, down from 48 percent on Wednesday, and Alckmin with 34 percent up from 32 percent. The Datafolha poll showed Lula with 46 percent, down from 49 percent three days ago, and Alckmin with 35 percent, up from 33 percent.
Still popular
A onetime shoeshine boy with little formal education, Lula is hugely popular among impoverished Brazilians, who make up about a quarter of the 184 million population of South America's largest and most populous nation.
His popularity has survived a series of scandals that dogged his government and his leftist Workers Party thanks in part to an anti-poverty program under which 11 million struggling families get up to US$45 a month in subsidies.
And while the business communities would rather see Alckmin head the next government, they no longer perceive Lula as a dangerous firebrand leftist.
Since Lula assumed office in 2003, the government has maintained orthodox economic policies and restored public finances, while increasing the minimum wage.
He faces the electorate against the backdrop of a healthy econ-omy, although Alckmin claims growth, projected at 3 percent this year, falls far short of its potential.
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
A Japanese city would urge all smartphone users to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school under a proposed ordinance that includes no penalties. The limit — which would be recommended for all residents in Toyoake City — would not be binding and there would be no penalties incurred for higher usage, the draft ordinance showed. The proposal aims “to prevent excessive use of devices causing physical and mental health issues... including sleep problems,” Mayor Masafumi Koki said yesterday. The draft urges elementary-school students to avoid smartphones after 9pm, and junior-high students and older are advised not
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking. Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He was replaced by another senior police general, Jose
POWER CONFLICT: The US president threatened to deploy National Guards in Baltimore. US media reports said he is also planning to station troops in Chicago US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as he seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration. The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage. Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing. The Guard began carrying
RSS