BRAZIL: Presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin squeezes in some last-minute campaigning ahead of second-round presidential election

Record ID: 345546

  • Title: BRAZIL: Presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin squeezes in some last-minute campaigning ahead of second-round presidential election
  • Date: 29th October 2006
  • Summary: (BN12) RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (OCTOBER 28, 2006) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GERALDO ALCKMIN GREETING PEOPLE IN RIO ALCKMIN DRINKING COFFEE (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GERALDO ALCKMIN SAYING: "We are going to repair what needs to be repaired and work for the people, not for political parties, but work for the people. Hope, trust, future - we have faith in the election tomorrow." ALCKMIN WITH SUPPORTERS (SOUNDBITE)(Portuguese) BRAZILIAN VOTER, DEMETRIO PASQUAL, SAYING: "I am going to vote for Alckmin with the hope that Brazil changes and that Brazil will improve, that there will be less corruption, that there will be more conditions for all of us who work." (SOUNDBITE)(Portuguese) BRAZILIAN VOTER, ELMA ISAIAS, SAYING: "He is the only option in this country, in this moment because he is serious, he is honest, because we do not deserve any kind of corruption." ALCKMIN TALKING WITH VOTERS
  • Embargoed: 13th November 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1KTUVK9DU5Z0340GB4JWDI0WT
  • Story Text: Opposition presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin squeezed in some last-minute campaigning on Saturday (October 28) just one day before Brazil's second-round presidential election.
    Sunday's (October 29) vote is expected to end with an easy victory for incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, commonly known as 'Lula', but that did not dissuade Alckmin from putting out a final effort in Rio de Janeiro. "We are going to repair what needs to be repaired and work for the people, not for political parties, but work for the people. Hope, trust, future - we have faith in the election tomorrow," he said, surrounded by media and supporters.
    Although Lula has tried to downplay corruption allegations that have plagued him and his party for the past year, some voters were still concerned about the issue.
    "I am going to vote for Alckmin with the hope that Brazil changes and that Brazil will improve, that there will be less corruption, that there will be more conditions for all of us who work," said voter Demetrio Pasqual.
    "He is the only option in this country, in this moment because he is serious, he is honest, because we do not deserve any kind of corruption," added another voter, Elma Isaias.
    Meanwhile, electoral workers continued shipping voting equipment throughout the country and seemed confident there wouldn't be any problems at the ballot.
    Lula and his opponent Geraldo Alckmin held their final debate on Friday (October 27). Lula brushed aside attacks by his conservative rival, ending a campaign that could give him a landslide victory in Sunday's (October 29) election.
    Lula, a former union leader who celebrated his 61st birthday on Friday, holds a lead of more than than 20 points over Geraldo Alckmin, the latest three opinion polls show.
    The stern-faced Alckmin looked stiff for much of the debate, rattling off a list of arguments he had frequently used in TV campaigns and previous debates.
    The former Sao Paulo state governor shone briefly, cornering Lula over Brazil's economic growth rate of only 2.3 percent last year, the slowest in Latin America after Haiti. As in the first three debates, Lula had to dodge Alckmin's sharp accusations over a series of corruption scandals involving his Workers' Party over the past two years.
    Lula abandoned previous attempts to paint Alckmin, 54, as an elitist candidate who would favour the rich and sell off strategic state companies.
    Lula enjoys the broad support of the poor and workers in this country of 185 million, South America's biggest economy.
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