President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff, who was endorsed as a presidential candidate on Saturday by the ruling Workers' Party, pledged to continue current economic policy if she wins the October 3 election. Delegates at the party's national convention in the capital Brasilia acclaimed Dilma Rousseff, whose bid could make her Brazil's first woman president.
Rousseff trails Sao Paulo state Governor Jose Serra of the opposition PSDB party by between 5 percent and 11 percent, according to two opinion polls this month. "I am here today to accept this honourable mission you have delegated me," Rousseff told the party convention. "I am totally prepared."
Rousseff pledged to maintain the pillars of Lula's market-friendly economic policy - fiscal discipline, a free-floating exchange rate, and inflation targets. In recent years, Brazil has consolidated its position as one of the world's leading economies. It bounced back quickly from a brief recession last year and its economy is expected to grow by more than 5 percent this year.
The Workers' Party on Friday approved a campaign platform that proposes extending Lula's mostly market-friendly policies. But it also included proposals to expand the role of state enterprises, tax big wealth and expand social welfare programs.
Rousseff also said she wanted to continue working with Lula's current coalition partners, a group of 11 parties ranging from the far left to the political center. "I want to continue our path with them. I want to form a government coalition," said Rousseff, who was a left-wing guerrilla militant during the 1964-85 military dictatorship.
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