Plebiscite Would Give Lula Chance at Third Mandate as President of Brazil

[Judi Lynn]

Plebiscite Would Give Lula Chance at Third Mandate as President of Brazil
Written by Newsroom
Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Another period for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president of Brazil is "a risk" which would distance the country "from the republic and would draw it nearer to a monarchy," said the president of the Brazilian Supreme Electoral Tribunal, TSE, Ayres Brito.

"The republic promotes temporality and the possibility to rotate in office. The longer a mandate, the more distant from the republic and the closer to a monarchy," underlined the TSE president in an interview with daily Folha de S. Paulo.

The minister thus joined the growing debate in Brazil against a second presidential re-election following the proposal a week ago from a ruling coalition member of the Lower House, Jackson Barreto, to hold a plebiscite that would open the doors for a constitutional amendment and the possibility of a third period running for Lula, the most popular Brazilian leader in recent history.

Barreto said he would be presenting his initiative for a September referendum sometime this week, which would make it valid for the 2010 presidential election.

Apparently the initiative already has 178 support promises in the Lower House, 16 of them from the opposition, which is more than the minimum number necessary according to the rules of the House to make the proposal official.

More:
http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/10782/