Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva and his rival Geraldo Alckmin prepared for a crucial televised debate this weekend, fighting to win votes in what has become an unexpectedly open contest for the leadership of Latin America's largest country, according to Reuters. The candidates also have been busy making new alliances before the second round of the election on Oct. 29. Lula, a former union leader and champion of Brazil's workers and poor, had been expected to easily win another term in the first round last Sunday. But he failed to get a majority, garnering just shy of 49 percent; Alckmin received 41 percent of the vote.