Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrates after his re-election with supporters near Sao Paolo on Oct. 29 AP PHOTO.

While Lula was re-elected Oct. 29 with the largest number of votes of any president in the country's history, his party saw its share of seats shrink in Congress.

Lula was greeted at Brasilia's airport Oct. 30 by about 200 supporters waving flags of his leftist Workers' Party as the victory theme of the late Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna played.

But already some members of vanquished rival Geraldo Alckmin's party and the allied conservative Liberal Front Party, which now holds the largest bloc in the Senate, are clamoring for Lula's impeachment over corruption allegations.

Lula said that in his second term he would work for approval of a political reform package that would limit campaign contributions and bar legislators from switching parties -- a common practice in Brazil.

He also announced the government would hold its course on monetary policies designed to check inflation and dismissed rumors that Finance Minister Guido Mantega would be replaced.

Brazil's first president from the working class said his second term would be marked "by economic development, better income distribution and quality education."

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 4, 2006
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