Lula faces runoff

Rio de Janeiro

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva fell just short of 50 percent of the vote in national elections last week, setting up an Oct. 29 runoff against his nearest challenger, Geraldo Alckmin of the Social Democratic Party. Da Silva seemed headed for easy re-election until September, when members of his Workers Party were caught trying to pay $792,000 for information damaging to Alckmin. “I didn’t vote for Alckmin,” said José Reis, a salesman in Rio de Janeiro. “I voted against Lula and the corruption around him.” Da Silva denied knowledge of the scheme, although among those implicated were his bodyguard and the husband of his personal secretary.