Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Lula headed for easy, though somewhat tainted, reelection

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva appears to be on the road for victory in the country’s presidential elections though it has not been without several obstacles. Last year, a major corruption scandal rocked Congress (see bottom of the article) which implicated the ruling Workers Party and led to some serious division within the Party. In July Lula had been accused of taking his opponents too lightly by skipping out on a televised presidential debate. And now with less then two weeks left until Election Day the Workers Party has been accused of mudslinging by paying for an anti-opposition dossier. These actions have placed Lula on the defensive and have cast some doubt over him avoiding a runoff (though a second round victory would be all but guaranteed).

Links- Christian Science Monitor, Reuters, MercoPress, The Scotsman, The Latin Americanist (blog)

Image- Washington Post

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