Lula Wins Reelection

Meanwhile, cabinet members have promised a dramatic post-election change in economic policy. Yesterday the minister for institutional relations, Tarso Genro, told reporters to expect a departure from an orthodox economic policy that had been widely criticised by leftwingers hoping for more radical change following Lula’s historic election in 2002.

Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, won a landslide second term in power last night, a month after being forced into a run-off by allegations of corruption. With 92% of the vote counted last night, Lula had 61%, making it mathematically impossible for his opponent, Geraldo Alckmin of the Social Democratic Party (PSDB), to overtake him.

Just after 7.30pm the president of Brazil’s electoral commission, Marco Aurélio Mello, announced the victory at a press conference in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia.

Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, won a landslide second term in power last night, a month after being forced into a run-off by allegations of corruption. With 92% of the vote counted last night, Lula had 61%, making it mathematically impossible for his opponent, Geraldo Alckmin of the…

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Ari Paul has written for The American Prospect, In These Times, Tikkun, Z, Punk Planet, openDemocracy.net, Reason and other newspapers and magazines. He is also a reporter for The Chief-Leader, a New York weekly covering labor in the city.