Brazil's Presiednt Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, candidate of the
Workers' Party, won a second term in the presidential runoff with
Geraldo Alckmin, Brazil's electoral court announced on Sunday.
Lula net 61 percent of the vote, mostly from poor voters, easily
defeating his rival Alckmin of the centrist Brazilian Social
Democracy Party.
Lula is highly popular among lower-class voters for his
large-scale welfare program to cover the poor, while Alckmin, a
former governor of the Sao Paulo state, is more favored among
businessmen for his willingness to encourage business.
On Sunday, about 125 million Brazilians, or two-thirds of the
country's population, cast their ballots in the presidential
runoff.
Lula, 61, failed to clinch an outright victory over Alckmin in
the Oct. 1 presidential election, during which the incumbent
president got 48.6 percent of the votes against Alckmin's 41.6
percent.
The next government will face a fractured parliament, with the
Lula's party holding 83 of the 513 seats in the lower house and 11
in the 81-seat Senate, Alckmin's PSDB having 66 and 14
respectively, and the remaining seats going to other parties.
(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2006)
