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.

It was a stunning setback for the president, who is known universally as Lula.

“Alckmin now has a chance, and a good one,” said Alexandre Barros, an analyst with the Brasilia-based Early Warning political risk consulting group.

Another analyst, however, said the president should not be counted out in the October 29 runoff.

“For Alckmin to win the election, voters who supported Lula in the first round would have to switch over to Alckmin in the second,” said Christopher Garman, Latin America analyst with the Eurasia Group.