Brazil election heads to second round

Brazil's President has failed to get the 50 per cent he needed to win re-election and will head to a run-off poll, after claims of dirty campaign tricks chafed his support.

Results based on almost 98 per cent of the ballots show President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva garnering 48.79 per cent to Geraldo Alckmin's 41.43 per cent.

Mr da Silva would have needed 50 per cent to avert going to the October 29 run-off against the former Sao Paulo governor.

The 60-year-old President has seen support slip in the last days of his electoral campaign, amid growing discontent over campaign scandals that implicated top officials in the Government and his leftist Workers Party.

An one-time shoe-shine boy with little formal education, Mr da Silva enjoys widespread support among impoverished Brazilians, who make up about a quarter of the 184 million population of South America's largest nation.

While dented, his popularity has survived several scandals, thanks in part to an anti-poverty program under which 11 million struggling families get up to $A60 a month in government subsidies.

Since he took office in 2003, the Government has maintained orthodox economic policies and restored public finance, while increasing the minimum wage.

But critics in Brazil claim Mr da Silva has not been forceful enough in dealing with Evo Morales, the leftist president of neighbouring Bolivia and a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose nationalisation of the oil and gas industry has hurt Brazil and its giant Petrobras company.

Mr Alckmin, who has gained a reputation as a solid administrator, does not suggest a radical departure from the current Government's policies and has capitalised instead on the recent scandals, saying the President had a lot of explaining to do.

In the latest scandal, two Workers Party officials were arrested in mid-September with almost $A1.74 million in cash they allegedly planned to use to buy documents that could allegedly tie Mr Alckmin to a corrupt deal.

Another scandal over vote-buying and illegal campaign financing forced several Cabinet ministers and Workers Party officials to resign last year.

Mr da Silva has insisted he had no knowledge of the affairs until they came to light and fired several of his close aides.

- AFP