BRAZIL: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Workers Party in Brazil has more than doubled the number of municipalities it has won in local elections.
The strong showing, compared with the last election four years ago, was highlighted by the party grabbing six of Brazil's 26 state capitals outright in the first round of Sunday's vote and forcing a run-off in another nine in a second round vote scheduled for October 31st.
Investors were closely watching the elections, where 120 million of 180 million Brazilians voted for mayors and city councillors in 5,562 municipalities, for an idea on whether President Lula could boost his chances to pass economic reforms.
Results released early yesterday showed the Workers Party had met its target of at least doubling the number of municipalities it won. With about 95 per cent of the nationwide result out, the Workers Party won 381 municipalities, up from 187 in 2000.
That should bolster President Lula, whose party saw the elections as a partial referendum on his government even though Brazil's municipal races tend to be fought on local issues.
The strong results could boost his re-election chances in 2006. He started his four-year term in January 2003.
"The showing of some candidates that apparently didn't have chances . . . gives the government party a highly favourable outlook on the national level," according political analyst Mr Carlos Lopes.
He said that even with the Democratic Party's "favoured position in Sao Paulo, it should not outshine the Workers Party's victory."
While the number of municipalities won by the Workers Party is small in relation to the total, the party was backed by large numbers of voters as Brazil's population is concentrated in the major cities.
Key for investors will be whether Congress resumes its activities before the run-offs at the end of this month and moves on issues such as a reform of the country's bankruptcy laws and a framework for private investment in public infrastructure projects.
Congress stood at a virtual standstill in September as political attention turned to the elections.
The Workers Party had sought to capitalise on the Lula government's success in generating strong economic growth this year after a contraction of 0.2 per cent in 2003 - the country's worst performance in a decade.
President Lula became Brazil's first working-class president after winning the 2002 election, promising to flatten Brazil's huge income gap and create millions of jobs.
Mr Joao Paulo, the Workers Party mayor of the north-eastern city of Recife, who was re-elected on Sunday, said: "I think the support of President Lula helped us."