![]() "He is our candidate until he decides otherwise. ![]() "To talk about Plan B now would divide the party at a moment when our tactic is to strengthen Lula," said Washington Quaqua, the head of the Workers Party in Rio de Janeiro state. Even party officials who previously backed at least discussing alternative candidates after Lula's conviction last year now say it is no time for such debate. That delays the chance for an electoral court to formally bar his candidacy and keeps pressure on the judiciary for locking up the campaign front-runner. But the Workers Party has closed ranks behind him, with the national executive saying on Monday that they will register him as a presidential candidate close to the August deadline for hopefuls to enter the race. ![]() There is little chance Lula, convicted of bribery and facing six more graft trials, will be eligible to stand for the October vote, even if freed by an appeal that the Supreme Court could take up on Wednesday. ![]() By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - The jailing of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has hardened convictions in his Workers Party that he should be nominated to run for president, its senior members said, a plan that may leave the broader left fragmented as elections approach. ![]()
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