Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will learn in January whether a prison sentence against him is upheld, officials said, potentially knocking him out of next year's presidential election. Lula was sentenced in July to 9.5 years behind bars after being convicted of corruption in Brazil's huge Car Wash graft scandal.
Half of Brazilians want former President Lula da Silva to win next year's election and return to the office he occupied between 2003 and 2010. The other half wants him in prison for a corruption conviction.
A former finance minister and close confidant of Brazil’s Lula da Silva accused the ex-president of receiving bribes from contractor Odebrecht, adding to a list of corruption accusations that threaten Lula’s ability to run for president in 2018.
Former Brazilian president Lula da Silva told Reuters on Wednesday that his recent conviction for corruption might mean that his Workers Party will have to field a candidate other than him in next year's election.
The former Brazilian president Lula da Silva responded defiantly to his conviction on corruption charges by formally launching his candidacy for next year’s presidential election.
Ex Brazilian President Lula da Silva's combative testimony before a federal judge this week did little to dismantle the graft case against him and improve his chances of securing a new term in office. Lula, a founder of the leftist Workers Party (PT) that controlled Brazil's presidency from 2003 until last year, can only run in next year's presidential election if he avoids a conviction that is upheld on appeal.
Lula da Silva, Brazil's hugely influential leftist president between 2003-2010, faces no fewer than five court cases, each of which could thwart his dream of a comeback in 2018. On Wednesday he is due to appear before Brazil's top anti-corruption judge, Sergio Moro, to face charges that he was given a luxury apartment as a bribe.
Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, confirmed Wednesday that “he is preparing” to run for the presidency in 2018, should it “be necessary.”
Former two-term President Lula da Silva acknowledged Friday that he is weighing the possibility of seeking to return to Brazil's highest office in the 2018 elections. ”I can't say that I am or that I'm not (a candidate),” Lula said during an interview with Radio Itatiaia.