| IT WILL be war. That is how supporters of the left-wing Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, describe the head-to-head battle with the conservative Geraldo Alckmin, after narrowly failing to win an outright victory in Sunday's presidential elections. Mr Lula won 48.6 per cent of the votes, missing the 50 per cent plus one vote mark that would have secured the elections, while Mr Alckmin came second with 41.6 per cent. Polls predicted he would get 38 per cent - leaving the 29 October final vote wide open. "This is really a defeat for Lula. His attitude until now was 'I don't need to do anything, I'm going to win' but now he has to fight," said Franklin Martins, a political analyst. Analysts believe Mr Lula's once substantial lead evaporated as a result of a recent political scandal that led to the dismissal of his campaign manager and Workers' party (PT) president, Ricardo Berzoini, following an alleged smear campaign against rival candidates - an affair that the broadly anti-Lula press re-ignited this weekend by running photos of the supposed $800,000 (£424,000) in cash intended to buy the incriminating dossier. |