Brazil's Lula expresses confidence in winning presidential election

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday spoke with confidence about the incoming runoff of the presidential election, saying his re-election was only postponed to the second round.

At his first press conference following the first round of the presidential race, Lula said the victory will come, though it will take a bit longer.

Lula, Brazil's first working-class president, failed to garner 50 percent of the votes needed to grip an outright victory in Sunday's election, setting up a runoff with opposition candidate Geraldo Alckmin.

Alckmin, a former governor of Sao Paulo state, grasped 41.58 percent of the votes, trailing Lula by only seven percentage points in Sunday's vote.

The incumbent president admitted the possibility of political debates in his campaign for the second round, which he said would be clearer and quicker than in the first round.

"I hope ideas and government proposals will be debated," said Lula, adding that he could not measure how much his refusal to take part in the Sept. 28 debate affected his performance on Sunday.

Lula said he hoped for a brief solution to the scandal involving members of the Workers Party, who allegedly tried to buy a dossier containing information against the candidate of the opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party.

Lula congratulated the Brazilian people on their mass participation in the elections and on the tranquility during the voting, which showed the consolidation of Brazil's democratic process.

The president also praised the Electoral Tribunal, which released the result of the presidential elections only five hours after the voting.

Source: Xinhua