President Lula faces tough runoff in Brazilian election

VOTER outrage over alleged corruption and dirty tricks have left Brazil’s president facing a tough runoff for a second term, after his main rival staged a surprise comeback.

Polls had predicted that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would trounce the centre-right Geraldo Alckmin with far more than the 50% plus one vote needed to win the contest in the first round.

But with the entire vote counted on Monday, Mr da Silva got 48.6% against 41.6% for Mr Alckmin, the former governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s richest and most populous state.