SAO PAULO, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Brazil's presidential hopefuls have wrapped up a half-year's worth of campaigning though little question remains which candidate will ultimately lead South America's largest nation.
On the eve of Sunday's balloting, polls show Workers' Party candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva maintains a commanding lead over Jose Serra, the current president's handpicked successor. Serra, a former health minister, is the candidate for the ruling Social Democratic Party, or PSDB.
The election favorite, "Lula," as he is commonly known, is expected to get nearly two-thirds of the vote, polls indicate.
The four-time presidential aspirant is poised to become the nation's first left-wing leader since Joao Goulart, whom the military overthrew in 1964 following rampant inflation and the regime's fear of his Marxist leanings.
Friday's debate proved to be a relatively anti-climatic ending to six months of stumping followed by a primary vote earlier this month that eliminated two candidates, former Rio de Janeiro state Gov. Anthony Garotinho and one-time finance minister and Ceara state Gov. Ciro Gomes.
Lula won that first round with more than 46 percent of the vote, falling just short of the majority needed to win the election outright. Serra finished in second place with 23 percent.
The former health minister refrained for the most part from launching into the tactical assaults he had volleyed against Lula since the Oct. 6 primary, whereby he had attempted to convince voters that the PT candidate was woefully unqualified for the job.
A former metalworker and union leader, Lula has very little formal education, a notion Serra tried to capitalize on to little avail.
The left-wing candidate -- who speaks with a lisp and lost a finger in a lathe accident -- continued to play on some voters' disenchantment with the President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's administration. Many accuse him of paying too little attention to the needs of the nation's 170 million people over the last eight years while implementing U.S.-backed fiscal reform policies and privatization initiatives.
"The people want jobs, and this economic model as it is does not provide them," said Lula, who has campaigned on a promise to increase employment, improve social services -- such as health care and public security -- and narrowing the enormous, economic divide separating the country's wealthy and poor, one of the largest gaps in the world.
Though at times adopting a conciliatory tone and appearing resigned to losing Sunday's election, Serra responded to Lula's assertions defensively.
"Every time I talk about something, Lula says nothing was done in eight years (during the Cardoso administration)," said Serra, pleading with voters to help him "help you to change your lives."
While Lula may be a favorite among most voters, investors at home and on Wall Street have made no secret of their concern about him, a worry that has contributed to nation's market woes and failing currency -- the Brazilian real.
The real has lost some 42 percent of its value since the beginning of the year.
Many believe that if elected, Lula might default on the nation's $260 billion in foreign debt, a notion the PT candidate has denied, though he has mentioned the possibility of restructuring some of the payments.
Businessmen largely favor Serra to lead Brazil for the next four years, as he would likely continue the U.S.-backed policies adopted by Cardoso.
In an effort to assuage investors' fears, the PT said earlier this week that it would announce its financial team by Tuesday if Lula wins Sunday's vote.
