Lula faces tough fight for outright victory in Brazil

The candidate hand-picked by the outgoing Brazilian 

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to succeed him

appeared last night to have secured preliminary victory in national elections but early returns cast doubt on her achieving a wide enough margin to avoid a run-off vote in four weeks.

As the ballots were being counted all across Brazil –

where voting is obligatory for all adults – there was growing uncertainty about a quick coronation of the ruling party candidate Dilma Rousseff, who has vowed to follow the economic policies of Mr Lula which have helped to ignite a protracted boom in Brazil.

With 72 per cent of the vote counted, Rousseff had 45 per cent of the vote compared to 34 per cent for her main rival Jose Serra.With those numbers, a second round of campaigning would open with a run-off on 31 October. Falling that far short of the 50 per cent mark would be something of an embarrassment for her and Mr Lula.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/lula-protg-faces-tough-fight-for-outright-victory-in-brazil-2096817.html