Lula seeks coalition after victory

Fresh from a landslide re-election win, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faced the sobering challenge yesterday of forging a broad governing coalition and kick-starting stalled reforms.

Mr Lula, as Brazil's first working-class president is universally known, won a strong mandate on Sunday with 60.8 per cent of votes against rival Geraldo Alckmin of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, who took 39.2 per cent.

The victory marked a remarkable comeback from a series of corruption scandals involving Mr Lula's left-leaning Workers' Party over the past two years, which had threatened to end the political career of the former union leader. Mr Lula was to meet with several state governors later yesterday in an attempt to seek common ground on economic reforms and help him secure the clear majority in Congress that has eluded him so far, partly because of lack of party discipline.

Tarso Genro, Mr Lula's top political advisor, said the president would personally lead coalition talks. Mr Genro will meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday to push a stalled tax reform bill.

"I think it's possible to get the tax reform approved by year-end," Mr Genro told journalists. Mr Lula's other priority is to overhaul a corruption-prone party system, he said.

While Mr Lula's large margin of victory should confer him some political capital, some analysts cautioned that the president still faces an uphill battle to govern effectively.

"Behind the headline victory, Mr Lula faces a long and tough negotiation before he can begin governing," said Jose Luciano Dias, a political analyst in Brasilia. "The problem is agreeing on an agenda - Mr Lula during the campaign distanced himself from market-friendly reforms the country needs."