President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil won a decisive victory in the country’s presidential election last night.
With 99 per cent of the votes counted, Mr Lula da Silva had won 60.8 per cent compared with 39.2 per cent for his challenger, Geraldo Alckmin, of the centrist opposition PSDB.
With victory secure, Mr Lula da Silva told supporters he would follow “tough fiscal policies” in his second mandates. He added: “At the same time, I am convinced that the solution for Brazil’s problems [lies in] economic growth and income distribution,” including increases in the national minimum wage at rates ahead of the rate of inflation.
He predicted Brazil’s economy would accelerate next year because of increased investments in ports, roads and other infrastructure projects. “We have already predicted for next year an expansion of 5 per cent. I think Brazil may grow by 5 per cent or 6 per cent.” Brazil’s economy is expected to grow about 3 per cent this year.
The president was forced into a surprise second-round run-off after failing to win an outright majority in the first round on October 1, when Brazilians also voted for state governorships and state and federal legislatures.
Then, Mr Lula da Silva won 48.6 per cent of the vote against 41.6 per cent for Mr Alckmin. The vote for Mr Alckmin was bigger than predicted and appeared to have given him a chance of victory in the run-off.
Mr Lula da Silva has won solid support among the country’s poor – the majority of voters – for his income distribution initiatives and other welfare programmes. Before the first round he was expected to win an outright majority mainly on the basis of overwhelming support in the poorer north-east of the country.
But his lead evaporated before the first round when members of his Workers’ party (PT) campaign team were implicated in an attempt to smear the opposition’s candidate for the governorship of São Paulo state. The scandal served as a reminder of the string of corruption allegations that have dogged Mr Lula da Silva’s administration for much of his four-year term.
The president pulled ahead quickly in campaigning for the second round after he and his aides began branding the PSDB as a rightwing party adverse to any state involvement in the economy.
They made particular play of the former PSDB government’s record on privatisation. Large parts of the state economy were privatised in the 1990s and, although standards of public services such as telephony have improved dramatically, public service tariffs have also risen sharply and privatisation remains deeply unpopular.
The PT’s anti-liberal rhetoric during the second round has caused consternation among many economists, who see it as a sign that spending cuts, needed to release money for investment and growth, are less likely under a second Lula administration than the first.
