Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is not only barred from running in elections taking place on Sunday -- but he will also be unable to cast his vote, according to authorities.
The 72-year-old leftist ex-leader is serving a 12-year prison term for corruption.
He was declared ineligible to be a candidate under a law that disqualifies those who have lost an appeal against their convictions.
As Lula's conviction is still under a second appeal, however, he is still allowed to vote -- but only if at least another 20 Brazilian convicts in his prison are in the same situation and express a wish to vote, justifying the expense and effort of setting up a polling station in the facility.
Regional electoral authorities in the state of Parana, where Lula has been incarcerated for six months, said that was not the case, so Lula's request to vote was rejected.
His lawyers said proposed alternatives, such as Lula voting in his usual electorate of Sao Bernardo do Campo, were also rejected.
The irony is that Lula, who was in office from 2003 to 2010, remains widely popular and would have easily won Sunday's election if he had been a candidate, according to polls.
Instead he will have to watch while behind bars as the candidate chosen by his Workers Party, Fernando Haddad, vies in the race against a dozen rivals.
Haddad, a former mayor of Sao Paulo, has climbed into second place in voter intention surveys.
But he trails far behind the poll frontrunner: an ultraconservative politician and onetime paratrooper, Jair Bolsonaro, who has vowed to steer Brazil to the right and crack down on crime and corruption if he becomes head of state.
Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is not only barred from running in elections taking place on Sunday — but he will also be unable to cast his vote, according to authorities.
The 72-year-old leftist ex-leader is serving a 12-year prison term for corruption.
He was declared ineligible to be a candidate under a law that disqualifies those who have lost an appeal against their convictions.
As Lula’s conviction is still under a second appeal, however, he is still allowed to vote — but only if at least another 20 Brazilian convicts in his prison are in the same situation and express a wish to vote, justifying the expense and effort of setting up a polling station in the facility.
Regional electoral authorities in the state of Parana, where Lula has been incarcerated for six months, said that was not the case, so Lula’s request to vote was rejected.
His lawyers said proposed alternatives, such as Lula voting in his usual electorate of Sao Bernardo do Campo, were also rejected.
The irony is that Lula, who was in office from 2003 to 2010, remains widely popular and would have easily won Sunday’s election if he had been a candidate, according to polls.
Instead he will have to watch while behind bars as the candidate chosen by his Workers Party, Fernando Haddad, vies in the race against a dozen rivals.
Haddad, a former mayor of Sao Paulo, has climbed into second place in voter intention surveys.
But he trails far behind the poll frontrunner: an ultraconservative politician and onetime paratrooper, Jair Bolsonaro, who has vowed to steer Brazil to the right and crack down on crime and corruption if he becomes head of state.
