Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday that the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) will officially nominate Geraldo Alckmin to be his running mate this Friday. “We will rebuild Brazil because we are two democrats, we like democracy, and we can prove that with our track record in public office,” Lula said.
Mr. Alckmin is a mainstream conservative former São Paulo governor who helped found the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) – a party he left last year. He joined the PSB two weeks ago in order to join Lula’s presidential ticket and help the former president portray his campaign as a broad anti-Bolsonaro front.
In a speech, Mr. Alckmin set the tone for the campaign, talking about poverty reduction and the need to curb rates of violence as their top priorities in Brazil. By mentioning violence, Mr. Alckmin zoned in on one of President Jair Bolsonaro’s key campaign issues.
Lula has consistently polled first, in the low 40s. But Mr. Bolsonaro has rallied and, according to some polls, is just 9 points behind Lula.
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