As polls show him slipping, Brazil’s Lula names VP as running mate

SAO PAULO: Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva on Tuesday named his vice president as his running mate in October’s election in Brazil, as polls show the veteran leftist president slipping to a dead heat with his main opponent.At the age of 80 Lula will be seeking a fourth term as he faces off against Flavio Bolsonaro, the 44-year-old son of far right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted of plotting a coup against Lula.Recent polls show Flavio Bolsonaro gaining ground and in a dead heat with Lula if they face each other in a runoff. In December, Lula led by 15 points.Lula’s vice president and running mate is Geraldo Alckmin, a moderate conservative and ex-rival of the president. They teamed up in 2022 to take on the older Bolsonaro, who was then the incumbent. Besides being vice president, Alckmin is currently also industry minister.“My colleague Alckmin is going to have to leave the ministry because he is candidate for vice president again,” Lula said at a public meeting with his cabinet. Alckmin, a 73-year-old doctor, served four terms as governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s richest and most populous state. He ran for president twice as the candidate of the conservative Brazilian Social Democratic Party.In 2006 he lost a runoff election to Lula.On Tuesday Lula told his cabinet a story of how in 1978 he won reelection as head of Brazil’s metalworkers union and told his family he would serve that one last term, then return to domestic life.“Fifty years have gone by and I never did,” he joked.A poll published March 6 by Datafolha showed Lula with 46 percent of voter intentions against 43 percent for Bolsonaro, putting them in a draw as the gap falls within the margin of error.The younger Bolsonaro, who serves in the senate, was anointed presidential candidate by his father after the Supreme Court sentenced the latter to 27 years in prison for plotting to stay in power after losing the 2022 election to Lula.