Lula drops suit to be able to run

BRASILIA: Lawyers for jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have withdrawn a request before Brazil’s Supreme Court that he be freed because it risked shutting the door on his candidacy in the October presidential election.

Despite being jailed in April for corruption and handed a 12-year jail term, Lula was nominated by his Workers Party to press its point that his conviction was political persecution aimed at stopping Brazil’s most influential politician from returning to power.

The country’s top electoral court is expected to invalidate his candidacy when it is registered on the August 15 deadline. The party has picked former Sao Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad as running mate to stand in for Lula if needed.

Haddad said Lula had asked for the release petition to be dropped because of the risk that the top court would also decide he was ineligible to run for office under an anti-corruption law. If the top court ruled, the electoral court would not be able to consider his case.

By registering his candidacy at the last minute next week, the former leftist leader aims to keep Brazilian’s attention on his case as long as possible, helping to transfer his popular support into votes for his party.

“It was a request for his release, but it appears that the petition was going to be used to rule on his eligibility in the election,” Haddad said after visiting Lula in jail in Curitiba.

“Lula has always said he will not trade his dignity for freedom,” said Haddad, a lawyer.

Lula governed Brazil for two terms from 2003-2010 and left office with a record approval rating of 87% thanks to a booming economy and social programmes that lifted millions of Brazilians from poverty.

His popularity has been hurt by corruption indictments and scandals but polls show about one-third of Brazilians would vote for him if he is allowed to run.