President Lula's party suffers defeats in Brazil mayoral elections

• AP foreign
• , Monday October 27 2008

Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - The Workers' Party of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has suffered severe losses in mayoral elections, losing in such metropolises as Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre.

In Sao Paulo, the nation's largest city and its financial hub, incumbent Gilberto Kassab of the conservative Democrats won by a landslide with 61 per cent of the vote in Sunday's runoff against Workers' Party candidate Marta Suplicy.

Political analysts said the win for Kassab strengthened the position and ambitions of Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, which supported Kassab. Serra is seen as the most promising rival to an as-yet-unknown Workers' Party candidate for president in 2010 elections.

Until her loss, Suplicy, who had served as tourism minister under Lula, had been considered a likely candidate for her party to replace Lula, who may not run again for president after serving two terms.

The Workers' Party suffered another defeat in Porto Alegre, the capital of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, seen as a traditional bastion of Lula's faction. Mayor Jose Fogaca of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) won re-election with 59 per cent of the vote against the Workers' Party's Maria do Rosario with 41 per cent.

Runoffs were held in 11 state capitals and 19 other large cities after no candidates achieved a majority of votes in the first round of voting on October 5. According to Brazilian law, runoffs are held only in cities with populations of more than 200,000.

The centrist PMDB was seen as the big winner in the elections. The party, which is the largest faction in Congress, now leads 1,200 of 5,567 cities in Brazil, including many of the largest and more politically important municipalities, such as Rio de Janeiro, Salvador de Bahia, Florianopolis and Porto Alegre.

The Workers' Party, in contrast, won in six of the 26 state capitals and in 550 cities overall.

In Rio, PMDB candidate Fernando Paes won the mayoral election with less than 51 per cent of the vote against the Green Party's Fernando Gabeira, a guerilla in the 1960s during Brazil's military dictatorship.

Despite its success at the ballot box, the PMDB was not expected to field a presidential candidate in 2010 but to support the coalition with the best chances of victory.

"No one can govern Brazil today without the PMDB," commentator Cristiana Lobo said on the television network Globonews. dpa er ls

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