- Title: Brazil's Lula says party still a force
- Date: 23rd August 2017
- Summary: PENEDO, ALAGOAS STATE, BRAZIL (AUGUST 23, 2017) (REUTERS) FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT, LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, SITTING AT TABLE AND DRINKING WATER (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT, LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, SAYING: "Look, I think that the party is still the most important left-wing party in Latin America. The PT is simply the most important party in Brazil, it's the party that has the highest electoral preference in all the polls. Though we did suffer a very big setback in the elections of 2016. But this happens in all democracies, sometimes you win an election well, sometimes you lose badly in another election, and other times you get an election back." LAGARTO, SERGIPE STATE, BRAZIL (AUGUST 21, 2017) (REUTERS) CROWD AT RALLY DURING LULA'S TOUR GENERAL VIEW OF TRUCK WITH STAGE ON TOP, LULA SPEAKING TO CROWD PENEDO, ALAGOAS STATE, BRAZIL (AUGUST 23, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT, LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, SAYING: "I think this contact (with the public during his tour) makes me understand Brazil more and more. Brazil is a country with huge diversity, and each state has a story, each state has its culture, it's a learning (experience) that I'm having, so I'm very happy." LAGARTO, SERGIPE STATE, BRAZIL (AUGUST 21, 2017) (REUTERS) LULA HUGGING PEOPLE AND POSING FOR PHOTOS DURING HIS TOUR IN BRAZIL'S NORTHEAST LULA EMBRACING PEOPLE LULA BOARDING BUS AND WAVING BUS DEPARTING
- Embargoed: 6th September 2017 21:38
- Keywords: Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva Workers Party presidential election campaign
- Location: PENEDO, ALAGOAS AND LARGARTO, SERGIPE, BRAZIL
- City: PENEDO, ALAGOAS AND LARGARTO, SERGIPE, BRAZIL
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA0016VDP6WZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In an interview during a marathon bus tour through Brazil's impoverished northeastern states, former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Reuters on Wednesday (August 23) that his party is still a force to be reckoned with in Brazilian politics.
Lula's 2003-11 government lifted millions from poverty and polls show he is still one of Brazil's most popular politicians. However, his political future hangs in the balance after he was convicted last month of receiving bribes from a construction firm in return for help winning government contracts. Lula noted during the interview that the recent conviction might mean that his Workers Party will have to field a candidate other than him in next year's election.
His three-week, 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) tour of a region that greatly benefited from his social programs aims to reconnect his party with its working class base and rebuild what is still Latin America's largest left-wing party. Polls show Lula would handily win the first round of a presidential election but he is in a statistical tie with his former Environment Minister Marina Silva, no relation despite the last name, largely because Lula has a 46-percent rejection rate, the highest among likely contenders.
Lula also said the Brazilian government should spend its way out of its worst recession on record and even use some of its international reserves instead of cutting government programs that hurt the poor. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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