Brazil's Lula launches presidential candidacy
05 August, 2018
Even behind bars, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will secure his leftist party's nomination Satur-day and continue to overshadow more likely candidates in the country's most unpredictable presidential election for decades.
Saturday will see three big party conventions, two months before the first round of voting on October 7 in Latin America's dominant economy.
Center-left environmental campaigner Marina Silva will get the nomination of her Rede party in Brasilia. Also in the capital, former Sao Paulo governor and establishment heavyweight Geraldo Alckmin will secure the nod from the center-right Brazilian Social Democratic Party, or PSDB.
But while both Silva and Alckmin are serious contenders in a battle against controversial right-winger Jair Bolsonaro, it's the third convention taking place in Sao Paulo that will suck up much of the attention. The Workers' Party, founded by Lula, will nominate him in his bid to return to power for a third term.
Never mind that he started serving a 12-year sentence for corruption this year. Never mind that he is likely to be barred from the ballot. Despite the scandals -- which he and his supporters believe have been artificially stoked to keep him out of the election -- Lula is still unquestionably the biggest beast in Brazilian politics.
Polls show him with near double the support of all other main candidates in a first round, crushing any runner up in the second decisive round two weeks later.Lula and his Workers' Party, which underpinned his domination of Brazil during two terms in 2003-2010, believe he's no yesterday's man.