MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula, Cardoso parties vie for Brazilian municipal posts.

The parties of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his predecessor Fernando Henrique Cardoso are set to duke it out on today Sunday in elections to fill more than 55,000 seats in the country's 5,562 municipal governments.

Nearly 120 million Brazilians are registered to choose from among 375,107 candidates the representatives who will fill 57,364 mayoral posts and city-council seats, in what will mark the first test of Lula's election management skills since taking office in January 2003.

Lula's Socialist Workers Party, or PT, and the opposition Social Democratic Party of Cardoso are favored to win in the majority of Brazil's 68 cities of over 200,000 inhabitants, according to recent polls.

Social Democrats - on their own or in political alliances - have the chance of winning mayoral elections outright in 50 of these cities, or in a second round of voting, which would take place Oct. 31.

PT candidates, meanwhile, have entered into political alliances which could enable them to take the post of mayor in 40 of the country's biggest cities.

In only three of Brazil's 26 provincial capitals do hopefuls who are not affiliated with these parties rank among the top two candidates.

The closest race is likely to be in Sao Paolo, considered the crown jewel on election day with the country's biggest electoral college and because it has been deemed a bellwether for the 2006 presidential elections. This is because one the candidates favored to win the Sao Paolo mayoralty is former Health Minister and Sen. Jose Serra, a leading Social Democrat whom Lula defeated in the last election.

With an intention to vote for him standing at 34 percent among the electorate, Serra is in a technical tie with current Sao Paolo Mayor Marta Suplicy, a friend of Lula's and the PT's most prominent female politician.

With control of the executive branch and being the largest minority in the legislature, the PT wields great influence in Brazil's biggest urban centers. But the party is underrepresented in smaller cities, controlling only 187 of Brazil's 5,562 municipalities. PT leaders estimate the party will triumph in 400-500 cities on Sunday.

"Our approach to the Social Democrats' challenge is to maintain dominance in the big (urban) centers and broaden our presence in the small municipalities. We're going to achieve this," PT secretary-general Silvio Pereira said.