Bishop says need for presidential runoff shows Brazilians' maturity

Published: 2006-10-04

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The need for a runoff in the Brazilian presidential election is a sign of the growing maturity of Brazilian voters and their increasing expectations of political leaders, said a Brazilian bishop. "I would say voters have shown themselves to be more mature in casting less passionate and more conscientious votes," Auxiliary Bishop Odilo Scherer of Sao Paulo told Vatican Radio. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had been expected to win re-election easily in the first round of voting Oct. 1, but just before the election news broke that members of his party had tried to buy false information about his opponents. Da Silva denied involvement in the scandal and fired his campaign manager before voting began, but he ended up with less than the 50 percent of votes needed to win in the first round. The president will face Geraldo Alckmin in the second round of voting Oct. 29.

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