BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s Workers Party and labour leaders insisted on Thursday that left-wing hero Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would be their candidate in this year’s presidential race, despite his failure to overturn a corruption conviction that will likely bar him.

Political observers expect the Workers Party to back his candidacy for as long as it possibly can, as without the charismatic Lula on the campaign trail Brazil’s second largest party in Congress faces oblivion.

“We are here to reaffirm Lula’s candidacy for president of Brazil. We have no Plan B. He will be our candidate,” party leader Senator Gleisi Hoffmann said at the country’s largest labour union headquarters.

The two-term former president, while popular, has slim chances of undoing Wednesday’s ruling by an appellate court. His exclusion raises the prospect of a right-leaning reformer winning the Oct. 7 election and sticking to Brazil’s austerity program.

Investors are betting it is game over for Brazil’s most influential politician and early front-runner. Sao Paulo’s stock market hit a new high after the decision and the currency strengthened from 3.20 to 3.14 reais to the dollar.

But Lula accepted the Workers Party nomination, which has to be formalized at a party convention, and told a rally in Sao Paulo that he would “fight to the end” to appeal against his conviction.

“I want to be candidate to win the elections and govern this country,” he said to a crowd that chanted “Lula for president.”

Workers Party leaders called for a civil disobedience campaign to oppose his exclusion from the elections and said they would resist any move to arrest Lula, whose prison sentence was increased by the appeals court from nine to 12 years.

“We need social confrontation to stop this coup. There has to be a rebellion by citizens,” said firebrand Workers Party Senator Lindbergh Farias.

With doubts about his ability to run, other parties will be reluctant to ally themselves with the PT, which could eventually be forced to back another candidate.

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reacts during a meeting with members of the Workers Party (PT), that decided Lula da Silva will be its candidate again in the 2018 election, despite losing an appeal against a corruption conviction that will likely bar him, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, January 25, 2018. REUTERS/Leonardo Benassatto

“The 3-0 vote to condemn him and the increase in his sentence was a definitive shock to Lula’s political life. It ends it,” said Sergio Praça, a political scientist at FGV think tank in Sao Paulo.

NOBODY LEFT ON THE LEFT

The exclusion of Lula from the 2018 election would not only leave the Workers Party orphaned but also the Brazilian left.

“There is nobody else on the left with a real chance for victory, and certainly nobody from the Workers Party,” Praça said. “There is nobody left on the left.”

Still, some analysts said Lula, while down after the court verdict, was not entirely out, with consultancy Eurasia saying he has a roughly one-third chance of being able to run.

If Lula is ruled out, his party could ally itself with the center-left Democratic Labor Party (PDT), which stands to gain leftist backers for its candidate Ciro Gomes, a former governor of Ceará state.

Another left-of-center option is environmentalist Marina Silva, who has won more than 20 percent of the votes in the last two presidential elections on an anti-corruption platform.

But she publicly supported the conviction of Lula for taking a bribe and his party is unlikely to join forces with her.

The absence of Lula on the campaign trail is not expected to benefit far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, running second in polling and whose support is in part based on a fear of a Workers Party return to power.

Instead it may open the field for more right of center candidates with clear market-friendly stances.

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends a meeting with members of the Workers Party (PT), that decided Lula da Silva will be its candidate again in the 2018 election, despite losing an appeal against a corruption conviction that will likely bar him, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, January 25, 2018. The sign reads:"In defense of democracy and Lula." REUTERS/Leonardo Benassatto

The strongest contender at this point is Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin, president of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB), the country’s third largest party which privatized state companies in the 1990s and would continue that policy.

Other potential candidates jockeying for position before the race kicks off are lower house Speaker Rodrigo Maia and Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles, a former banking executive and architect of Brazil’s economic recovery plan.

Maia is a staunch backer of Meirelles’ efforts to overhaul Brazil’s costly social security system, the main cause of Brazil’s budget deficit, and both would ensure pension reform was completed if elected.</s>Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A Brazilian appeals court unanimously upheld a corruption conviction against former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday.

The three-judge panel's decision to uphold the conviction could prevent the 72-year-old da Silva's candidacy in Brazil's upcoming election. The country's "clean record law" bars politicians whose convictions are upheld on appeal from running for office.

"There is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the ex-president was one of the actors, if not the principal actor, of an ample corruption scheme," said Joao Pedro Gebran Neto, one of the judges.

The court ruled against jailing Lula da Silva as he fights the conviction, but increased his sentence from 9 years to 12 years in prison.

"At a minimum, he was conscious and gave support to what happened," Neto said.

Lula Da Silva was convicted of receiving more than $1 million in bribes, including a newly refurbished beachfront apartment, as part of a corruption scandal known as "Operation Car Wash."

The former president can appeal the conviction to Brazil's Superior Electoral Court and the Supreme Federal Court and apply to an electoral tribunal for a special exemption to run for president if the appeal process extends through the election.

He delivered a message of defiance while speaking at a rally of his supporters in Porto Alegre, home of the Fourth Regional Federal Court of Appeals, on Tuesday.

"Only one thing is going to remove me from the streets of this country and that will be the day that I die," Lula da Silva said. "Until then, I will be fighting for a fairer society."

His Workers' Party backed up Lula da Silva in a statement and called on his supporters to take to the streets.

"If they think this story ends with today's decision they're sorely mistaken," the party said. "We won't give up in the face of this injustice."</s>(CNN) Here's a look at the life of Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Children: with Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva: Luis Claudio, Sandro, Fabio and Marcos (from her first marriage and adopted by da Silva); with Miriam Cordeiro: Lurian



He goes by the nickname Lula, which he formally added to his name in 1982.

Lula da Silva's father was against education and believed supporting the family was more important, so Lula da Silva didn't learn to read until age 10 and began working full-time at 12.

He left school completely after the fifth grade to work full-time.

Has nine fingers, having lost the little finger on his left hand in a work accident.

First wife, Maria, died of hepatitis in her eighth month of pregnancy along with the child.

Unhappy with the lack of political representation of the working class in Brazil, he decided to get involved in politics.



1966 - Becomes a metalworker and is active in the metalworkers union.

April 19-May 19, 1980 - As one of the leaders of a metalworkers union strike, is arrested after police confront workers. He is held for 31 days.

November 1982 - Comes in fourth in the gubernatorial race for the state of Sao Paolo.

1989, 1994 and 1998 - Is the Workers' Party candidate for president; he comes in second each time.

October 27, 2002 - Is elected president in a runoff election with 61.3% of the vote.

October 29, 2006 - Wins a second four-year term in office with 61% of the vote.

September 30, 2008 - Reacts to the downturn in global and US markets: "We can't be turned into victims of the casino erected by the American economy."

April 2010 - Is voted number one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2010.

February 17, 2012 - It is announced that Lula da Silva's cancer is in complete remission.

September 20, 2016 - A Brazilian judge rules that there is enough evidence for Lula da Silva, his wife and six others to stand trial on corruption charges.

September 5, 2017 - Corruption charges are filed against Lula da Silva, his successor Rousseff, and six Workers' Party members. They are accused of running a criminal organization, to divert funds from state-owned oil firm Petrobras. The charges are related to Operation Car Wash. Lula da Silva, Rousseff, and the Workers' Party deny the allegations.</s>Brazil's Workers Party said on Thursday that its founder and former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be its candidate again in the October election, despite losing an appeal against a corruption conviction that will likely bar him.

SAO PAULO: Brazil's Workers Party said on Thursday that its founder and former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be its candidate again in the October election, despite losing an appeal against a corruption conviction that will likely bar him.

Party leader Senator Gleisi Hoffmann announced the plan for Lula's presidential bid at a rally by labour unions. Wednesday's unanimous ruling against Lula leaves him with little room to appeal to higher courts and electoral authorities are expected to block his candidacy if he registers to run.</s>Brazil's Workers' Party (PT) on Thursday began a meeting to reaffirm its plans to register President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as its presidential candidate, even though an appeals court's decision to uphold his corruption conviction has cast doubt on his eligibility to run.

Lula, who governed Brazil between 2003 and the end of 2010 and remains his country's most towering political figure, is taking part in what the PT calls a "historic meeting."</s>Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, a leftist leader who rose from abject poverty to serve as Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, is widely tipped to win the country's 2018 general election unless a corruption conviction against the 71-year-old is upheld and he is barred from running.

Once called "the most popular politician on earth" by Barack Obama, the former US president, Lula da Silva was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison last year after being accused of receiving more than $1m in bribes from construction giant OAS.

Lula da Silva is currently free and fighting the charges, but several of Brazil's elite have been ensnared by Operation Car Wash, a huge investigation into a bribes-and-kickbacks network that has shaken the country's political establishment and cost the country more than $40bn.

Led by a small group of idealistic, young Brazilian prosecutors and a crusading judge, the investigation has exposed a vast international web of corruption involving business leaders and their efforts to bribe politicians to win contracts.

Lula da Silva and his lawyers maintain he is innocent, but even if the two-term president is absolved, he faces four other charges under the Car Wash investigation.

"I have peace of mind," he told Al Jazeera in a 2016 Talk to Al Jazeera interview.

"I doubt any prosecutor or police delegate in this country is more honest or more ethical than me."

The former trade union leader turned president is hugely popular in Brazil after overseeing a period of sustained growth that saw millions lifted out of poverty during his presidency between 2003 and 2010.

Under his leadership, the value of Brazil's currency more than doubled against the US dollar, unemployment was at a record low and illiteracy dropped.

However, in 2016, his protegee and successor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached after being accused of manipulating federal budgets.

Rousseff denied any wrongdoing and described efforts to remove her as a coup. Still, she was stripped of the presidency in August following her impeachment and was replaced by Michel Temer.

But after Temer, the sitting president, was charged with taking bribes, Lula da Silva is now widely expected to return to office should he stand in the elections.

He currently leads opinion polls by a significant margin while Temer has the lowest approval rating of a president since 1989.

Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from the southern city of Porto Alegre on Wednesday, said even if he is found guilty, he still has two appeals left but will not be able to register in time for the August election.

"Lula remains defiant and says he will continue to challenge the judiciary 'until death', and that he will run in this years' elections," she said.

The judge leading the charge, Sergio Moro, is viewed by many Brazilians as a superstar anti-corruption crusader, but others see him as a man on a mission to destroy Lula da Silva, our correspondent said.

Lula da Silva's ascent to the presidency in a country with one of the world's biggest wealth gaps was heralded as a success story of Brazil and he remains the only president to leave office with high approval ratings.</s>PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — The latest on the appeal of a graft conviction against former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (all times local):

Two of the three judges on an appellate court have decided to uphold a corruption conviction against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The third judge on the panel is also set to vote Wednesday, but a simple majority is enough to uphold the July conviction by lower court Judge Sergio Moro.

Moro ruled that da Silva was slated to receive a beachfront apartment from construction company OAS in exchange for contracts.

The appellate court’s Wednesday decision could bar da Silva, president between 2003 and 2010, from running in October’s election. By law, a candidate is ineligible if he or she has a criminal conviction and it has been upheld by a second court.

However, final decisions on candidacies are made by Brazil’s electoral court, and da Silva has several avenues to appeal to higher courts.

Brazil is taking over Twitter, with much of this nation of more than 200 million fixated on the judges who are ruling whether to uphold or throw out a corruption conviction against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

As the appeals decision was broadcast live Wednesday, three of the top 10 topics trending worldwide on Twitter were about the case. The top trending topic was the hashtag “MoluscoNaCadeia,” or “MolluskInJail.” That’s a play on the fact that da Silva is universally known as “Lula,” which is a common nickname for Luiz but also means squid.

At No. 5 on the worldwide trending list was “CadeAProva,” or “WhereIsTheProof,” reflecting how the case has split this social media-mad country.

An appellate court judge is voting to increase the jail time for a graft conviction against former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Judge Joao Pedro Gebran Neto is the first of three appellate court judges to rule on a case that could impact the presidential elections and even stability in Latin America’s largest nation.

After hearing arguments from both the prosecution and defence, Gebran Neto said da Silva’s jail time should be 12 years and one month. That is an increase of more than two years over the sentence levelled in July.

If at least two of the three judges assigned to review the case uphold the conviction, da Silva could be barred from running in elections later this year.

Despite myriad legal troubles the 72-year-old leads polls for October’s race.</s>A Brazilian appellate court has unanimously upheld a corruption conviction imposed on former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – and added years to his prison sentence.

A Brazilian appellate court has unanimously upheld a corruption conviction imposed on former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – and added years to his prison sentence.

The decision was the latest legal setback for Mr da Silva, who was wildly popular as president between 2003 and 2010 but has since been dogged by corruption allegations amid a scandal that has taken down top politicians and business executives in Latin America’s largest nation. While Mr da Silva has several avenues to still get on the October ballot – and his lawyers have indicated they will appeal any setback – the ruling further complicates a political comeback.

Judges sit in an appellate court during a hearing to consider whether to uphold or throw out a corruption conviction against Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Porto Alegre, Brazil (Sylvio Sirangelo/TRF via AP) Many argue that sidelining him could anger millions of his supporters and shake the country’s political stability. A three-judge panel heard arguments from both sides over Mr da Silva’s conviction on corruption and money-laundering charges alleging that he took a payoff from a construction company in return for contracts.

Judge Joao Pedro Gebran Neto was the first to vote. He went beyond the original conviction, saying that jail time should be 12 years and one month, an increase of more than two years from the sentence levied in July. “I consider the culpability in the case extremely high,” he said.

“This is about a former president and a corruption scheme that prevailed for years.” The following two judges agreed on all counts.

While Mr da Silva faces corruption charges in six more cases, the 72-year-old has been leading preference polls for October’s race. Supporters use their mobile phones during a protest in support of ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Rio de Janeiro (Silvia Izquierdo/AP) His Workers’ Party called the decision a “farce” and defiantly declared it would proceed with its plan to register him as its presidential candidate in August.

“We will fight in defence of democracy in all forums, in the judiciary and mainly on the streets,” party chairwoman Gleisi Hoffmann said in a statement. “If some think the story ends with today’s decision, they are very wrong because we do not surrender before injustice.”

With tensions high, authorities closed streets around the courthouse in the southern city of Porto Alegre as the hearing opened. Helicopters hovered above, police patrolled on horses and sharpshooters stood on rooftops. In this deeply polarised, continent-sized nation, the case is part of a larger narrative, with supporters and detractors of Mr da Silva offering their own interpretations.

Mr da Silva and his supporters say it and the other corruption cases are an attempt to keep him from returning to office. They argue it is part of a conspiracy by Brazil’s elite seeking to keep out a president like Mr da Silva who focuses on the poor and levels the playing field in one of the world’s most unequal nations. Detractors note that Mr da Silva and his left-leaning Workers’ Party were running the country while a widespread corruption scheme siphoned billions from state oil company Petrobras and helped Latin America’s largest economy fall into its worst recession in decades.

“I supported Lula long ago, but he became one of the crooks,” said Diego Esteves, a university student in Porto Alegre. Rodrigo Maia, speaker of the lower house of Congress, said that despite having long been a political foe of Mr da Silva, he was not celebrating on Wednesday. “In politics, the best forum for different ideas to do battle is an electoral campaign,” he said in a statement.</s>PORTO ALEGRE: Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is charging ahead with his plans to run for Brazil's presidency again, even after an appeals court unanimously upheld a graft conviction against him and added years to his prison sentence.

Da Silva, who was wildly popular as president in 20032010 and has been leading the polls for October's presidential election, was defiant in the face of yesterday's court ruling.

The case alleged that while president, da Silva traded favors in return for the promise of a beachfront apartment.

It is just one of a series of graft allegations against him amid a mushrooming corruption scandal that has taken down top politicians and business executives in Latin America's largest nation.

"I am not worried about whether I will be a candidate for president or not," da Silva told a crowd of supporters in Sao Paulo last night. "I want (the judges and prosecutors) to ask for forgiveness for the quantity of lies they told about me."

His Workers' Party declared its intention to register him as its candidate in August and scheduled a meeting today to discuss plans.

"We will fight in defense of democracy in all forums, in the judiciary and mainly on the streets," party chairwoman Gleisi Hoffmann said in a statement. "If some think the story ends with today's decision, they are very wrong because we do not surrender before injustice."

Da Silva's defense team said the decision by the threejudge panel was political and denounced the ruling as a "farce." They vowed to take the case to Brazil's Supreme Court and even the United Nations.

That raised the specter of months of uncertainty ahead of the vote and even potentially unrest.

Under Brazilian law, a criminal conviction that has been upheld on appeal makes the person ineligible to run for office, although da Silva still has several avenues to still get on the October ballot by appealing to higher courts.

Ultimately, the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal makes decisions about candidacies, and the Supreme Court could also weigh in on the case.

Oscar Vilhena Vieira, dean of the law school at Fundacao Getulio Vargas university, said it was likely da Silva would eventually be barred from running, but maybe not until weeks before the election.

"We will have a difficult year, but I think in the end the election will take place and people will accept its results," he said on a conference call with reporters organized by the Wilson Institute in Washington.

In deeply polarized Brazil, the case is part of a larger narrative, with supporters and detractors of da Silva offering their own interpretations.

Da Silva and his supporters say the other corruption charges brought against him are an attempt to keep him from returning to office. They argue it is part of a conspiracy by Brazil's elite to keep out a president like da Silva who focuses on the poor and levels the playing field in one of the world's most unequal nations.

Detractors note that da Silva and his left-leaning Workers' Party were running the country while a widespread corruption scheme siphoned billions from state oil company Petrobras and helped Latin America's largest economy fall into its worst recession in decades.

Tensions were high yesterday as the judges met in Porto Alegre, a southern city. Helicopters buzzed the skies, police patrolled on horses and sharpshooters took up positions outside while the judges spent the morning hearing arguments over da Silva's conviction on corruption and money laundering charges.

Prosecutors argued da Silva was promised a beachfront apartment, owned by construction company OAS, in exchange for contracts. In plea bargain testimony, the company's CEO said the apartment was slated for da Silva.

Da Silva and his lawyers have always argued the case defied logic, saying he never owned the apartment.

In the end, all three judges voted to uphold the conviction and lengthen the jail time to 12 years and one month, an increase of more than two years from the sentence levied in July.

"Nobody can be absolved just because he's powerful,"

Judge Leandro Paulen said, referring to da Silva's large following.

Experts said da Silva was unlikely to be jailed while pursuing further appeals.

Over the last several years, the "Car Wash" corruption investigation has landed dozens of Brazil's elite, from businessmen to politicians, in jail.

Several construction companies formed a de facto cartel that decided which would get inflated government contracts that included billions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to politicians, company officials and political parties in the form of campaign contributions.</s>SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s Workers Party said on Thursday that its founder and former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be its candidate again in the October election, despite losing an appeal against a corruption conviction that will likely bar him.

Party leader Senator Gleisi Hoffmann announced the plan for Lula’s presidential bid at a rally by labour unions. Wednesday’s unanimous ruling against Lula leaves him with little room to appeal to higher courts and electoral authorities are expected to block his candidacy if he registers to run.
The Brazil Workers' Party (PT) insists that former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be their candidate for the upcoming presidential election even as a conviction for corruption bars him from participating. The São Paulo stock market hits new highs and the value of the Brazilian real strengthens.