Presidential election goes to run-off

Brazilian president's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva biggest fears came to reality Sunday night, when he failed to get the majority of votes in the presidential election and had to settle for a run-off with second place Geraldo Alckmin. Lula, who had been heavily favored to win a second term in Sunday's election, managed to get 48.6 percent of the valid votes, against 41.5 percent from Alckmin. To avoid a run-off, a candidate needs one vote more than 50 percent of the valid votes. The president seemed to lose votes in the two weeks prior to Sunday, after it was revealed his party tried to buy illegal documents to use against their political opponents. These documents allegedly showed these opponents involved in several wrongdoings, but the allegations were never proved and the plan backfired.

Early polls suggest that both Lula and Alckmin would have close to 50 percent of the votes in the run-off, scheduled for October 29. Fearing a defeat, president Lula has already called his top aides for a series of meetings on Monday, to decide whether to change the focus of his campaign.