Brazil’s Leftist Appears Set to Win Presidency

Less than a week before Brazil’s presidential runoff, the victory of leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva looked all but inevitable.

Recent opinion polls leave little doubt the world’s fourth-largest democracy is poised Sunday to elect its first working-class president. Lula, a former metalworker and union leader, is making his fourth try for the presidency.

A survey by Datafolha pollsters published over the weekend showed support for the 57-year-old Lula, as the Workers’ Party candidate is popularly known, rising to 66% from 64% among respondents planning to cast valid votes. Centrist candidate Jose Serra, 60, slipped to 34% from 36%.

In the first round of presidential voting Oct. 6, Lula won 46% to Serra’s 23%. A runoff became necessary because no candidate got a majority.

In an apparent response to Serra’s claims that he has no concrete economic solutions, Lula has shifted away from his highly emotional campaigning style in the last few days and presented proposals to voters and financial markets.

A pledge to stick to prudent economic policies and help revitalize capital markets calmed jittery markets last week, pummeled for months by investor fears that Lula would backtrack on outgoing President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s free-market reforms and drive the world’s No. 9 economy to default on its $260-billion debt.

Market players say Lula’s victory has been largely priced in and they only await details of his program and government.