Lula’s fate for 2018 could be decided sooner rather than later

Dec 04, 2017 10:13 4 min read

Lula’s fate for 2018 could be decided sooner rather than later — Lula’s fate depends on a decision by a Court of Appeals. Photo: Ricardo Stuckert

On Saturday evening, the polling institute Datafolha published its latest polling results for the 2018 presidential race. Once again, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leads in all scenarios, having on average 34 percent of voting intentions. Lula benefits from the fact that voters know him pretty well – and associate him with an era of prosperity.

But Lula might not even be on the ballot next year. Back in July, he was convicted of corruption and money laundering, sentenced to 9 years and 6 months in prison, and fined 669,700 BRL. The former president appealed the decision, and his status as a candidate for a third term depends on whether the verdict will be upheld. And according to Zero Hora, a local...