Lula leads Brazil's just short of 50 percent hurdle: partial results

BRASILIA (AFP) — Brazil's president led Sunday's voting, with partial results putting the self-styled champion of the poor just a fraction of a point below the 50 percent he needs to win reelection in the first round. Results based on 86 percent of the ballots showed President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva garnering 49.32 percent to Geraldo Alckmin's 40.86 percent.

Lula needs to win a simple majority percent to avert going to an October 29 runoff against Alckmin, a former Sao Paulo governor. Alckmin, 53, was upbeat as he voted earlier in the day, pointing out "opinion polls show there will be a second round." But Lula, 60, a former strike leader who has distanced himself from his radical past, was unfazed. "I'm certain we will win today's election," he said after casting his ballot in the industrial town of Sao Bernardo do Campo, the stronghold of his leftist Workers ...