BRASILIA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's incumbent
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led Sunday's race but still fell short of
the simple majority needed for his outright win in a single round of vote,
partial results showed.
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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva, candidate for re-election, speaks to journalists after voting in
the general elections in Sao Bernardo do Campo on the outskirts of Sao
Paulo, Oct. 1, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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With
almost 90 percent of the ballots counted, Lula garnered 49.28 percent of the
votes, while his opponent, former Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin, got 40.95
percent.
Vote counting is delayed in Sao Paulo, Brazil's most
populous state, where polls indicated that Alckmin led the presidential race.
That means it is still unclear whether Lula will be re-elected in the first
round.
Lula has to win more than 50 percent of the votes to
win outright on Sunday and avoid going into a runoff on Oct. 31.
The polls opened on Sunday for some 126 million
eligible voters to elect a president, 513 federal representatives, 27 senators,
27 state governors and 1,059 state deputies.
Lula, 60, had enjoyed a comfortable lead in previous
opinion polls, but his support dropped in the last days of campaigning amid
public anger over a scandal involving members of his party.
A former trade union leader, Lula is highly popular
among millions of impoverished Brazilians, largely thanks to his
administration's emphasis on social programs aimed at narrowing the country's
enormous income gap.
Alckmin, a 53-year-old physician, is favored by the
business community and wins support from middle class Brazilians who are
outraged by a series corruption scandal involving close aides of Lula.
Alckmin officially announced his presidential
candidacy in March 2006, and secured a second place in previous opinion polls.
He was attempting to gather the necessary votes to force a run-off with Lula.
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