Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva unveiled a campaign platform on Tuesday calling for increased government spending and more social programs as the latest poll showed him coasting to an election victory in just over a month's time, according to Reuters. But Lula also reassured investors that he would stick to a careful fiscal path, saying he would seek to strike a balance between lowering interest rates and running a high primary budget surplus in a second term in office. The 60-year-old former factory worker was speaking to supporters of his ruling Workers' Party at a Sao Paulo hotel just as a new poll showed him trouncing his main rival in the Oct. 1 election. The Sensus survey, commissioned by the National Transport Confederation, showed Lula taking 51.4 percent in a first-round vote against 19.6 percent for Geraldo Alckmin of the opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party. By taking an absolute majority against the five other main contenders, Lula would avoid a second-round run-off for the leadership of Latin America's largest country. "Today I basically see this election as defined," Ricardo Guedes, director of polling firm Sensus, told reporters. Lula, who began his political career as a union leader confronting Brazil's then military dictatorship, won power in 2002 promising to create jobs and improve the lives of the poor in this country of glaring inequalities. In office, he moved the Workers' Party toward the political center and followed a tight fiscal policy that has pleased investors but disappointed some in his grass-roots base. His campaign platform for this election offers something for both sides. Despite signaling more spending on social programs and increases in the minimum wage, he also pledged to keep running a high primary budget surplus -- which excludes debt servicing costs -- to pay down Brazil's huge public-sector debt. The government now pursues a primary budget surplus equal to 4.25 percent of gross domestic product. VOTERS PLEASED WITH ECONOMY The platform did not foresee reforming Brazil's debt-ridden social security system, something several economists say is necessary to free up the government to invest more in other key areas such as education and infrastructure. Lula pledged to lower interest rates, which at 14.75 percent are among the highest in the world. He also said reform of the political system, which could include rewriting campaign finance rules, was a priority. Sensus pollster Guedes said Lula's strong showing was because people were pleased with economic gains such as job creation, wage increases above inflation, and social programs that helped the poor and needy. Alckmin's woes were aggravated by a series of attacks in Sao Paulo since May by a criminal gang called the First Command of the Capital, or PCC. Voters appeared to blame him for failing to bring public security under control when he was governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil's richest state. Lula has bounced back from a corruption scandal last year that at one point threatened to sink his government. Alckmin is respected by the business community but little known elsewhere in this nation of 185 million people. He lacks Lula's charisma and in a lackluster campaign, he has been unable to take political advantage of the corruption scandal.
