LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA is the second President in recent Brazilian history to win two successive terms in office. Lula, who represents the Left-wing Workers Party, narrowly failed to win the election outright in the first round of voting on October 1. To compensate for that setback, Brazilians handed him a resounding victory in the second and final vote on October 28. Lula won more than 61 per cent of the votes polled. His Centre-Right rival Geraldo Alckmin, a former Governor of the prosperous Sao Paulo State and the candidate of the Brazil Social Democratic Party and Liberal Front (PSDB-FL), got roughly 39 per cent of the vote. In the first round, he had polled more than 41 per cent.