MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pte. Lula promises to work with all elected mayors

A day alter Sunday's municipal election Brazilian president Lula da Silva called for national union and promised to work with the winning mayors and councillors no matter what party they belong to.

"Mayors play a leading role?and I'm not interested in knowing to which political party they belong, I only want to know who is the mayor because he has the same responsibility as I do in helping to solve people's problems", said Lula da Silva during his weekly radio program "Breakfast with the President". On Sunday there was an only winner, "the Brazilian people who freely elected their candidates" underlined the president. Lula da Silva who is riding on a popularity rating close to 80% recalled that during the electoral campaign, "not one single candidate criticized me" and they all underlined the good relations between the federal government and local town halls. "I'm convinced this association will be even closer" he emphasized. However the big cooperation test will be in Sao Paulo where conservative incumbent Gilberto Kassab defeated with 60.7% of the votes Lula da Silva's Workers' Party candidate Martha Suplicy who only managed 39.3% in the Sunday run off. Kassab two great allies in the victory were former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and current Sao Paulo governor Jose Serra, virtually the conservative presidential hopeful for 2010. This was particularly difficult for Lula da Silva since he only campaigned strongly for Ms Suplicy in Sao Paulo. In Rio do Janeiro which together with Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte are the core of political and economic power in Brazil, Eduardo Paes from the centrist party Brazilian Democratic Movement, PMDB, and a coalition ally of Lula da Silva, narrowly defeated the "green party" candidate Fernando Gabeira. However in Belo Horizonte, Lula da Silva's Workers Party and conservatives managed to share victory with Mario Lacerda. He garnered 59.1% of the vote and Leonardo Quintao from PMDB, 40.9% in the run off. The Workers Party also suffered another two major setbacks. In Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul, the incumbent Jose Fogaa from PMDB defeated overwhelmingly Lula da Silva's candidate Maria do Rosario. In Salvador, Bahia the incumbent mayor Joao Henrique from PMDB retained Town Hall defeating the Workers Party Walter Pinheiro. Overall next January the Workers Party will take control of 554 cities, of which six are state capitals, with the big loss of Sao Paulo. Conservatives PSDB emerged with 778 cities, three state capitals and with Kassab overwhelming re-election victory in Sao Paulo. The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, PMDB, won in 1,205 mayoral races, including five state capitals, a 14% jump. In practical terms this means that the ruling coalition has won nearly two-thirds (63%) of the mayoral races in Sunday's elections.