Since March, the former president has been jailed on a corruption conviction, but he denies any wrongdoing and claims he is being politically persecuted<\/b>
\nSAO PAULO \u2014 The Workers\u2019 Party in Brazil named jailed former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday as its nominee for the country\u2019s top job.
Delegates of the left-leaning party confirmed da Silva, who served two terms as Brazil\u2019s president between 2003 and 2010, with enthusiastic approval at a convention in Sao Paulo.
Since March, the former president has been jailed on a corruption conviction, but he denies any wrongdoing and claims he is being politically persecuted.
Members of Brazil\u2019s top electoral court have suggested he will be barred from running in October\u2019s elections. But da Silva leads polls for the office by a large margin, and surveys show voters would lend their support to another Workers\u2019 Party candidate if he cannot participate.
The party is not expected to name his running mate until Monday.
In a recorded message to the convention, da Silva said that \u201cit is those that sentenced me that are jailed in a lie.\u201d
\u201cBrazil needs to restore its democracy, find itself and be happy again,\u201d he said. \u201cThey might lock me up, shut me up, but I will keep my faith in the Brazilian people.\u201d
After his nomination was approved, another message written by da Silva was read aloud.
\u201cThey already brought down a president that was elected and now they want to veto the right of the people to elect their next president. They want to invent a democracy without people,\u201d he said.
Meanwhile, other candidates criticized da Silva and his party.
\u201cIt pains my heart, but I don\u2019t expect anything from them now,\u201d said left-leaning presidential hopeful Ciro Gomes, of the Democratic Labor Party.
Conservative Geraldo Alckmin, who was named by the Social Democracy Party as its presidential nominee Saturday, cast blame for the country\u2019s 13 million unemployed.
\u201cIt was the lies and the radicalism that created the chain of events that is the tragic heritage of the Workers\u2019 Party,\u201d he said.
Workers\u2019 Party chairwoman Gleisi Hoffmann, who is trying to lure other left-leaning parties to the ticket, addressed supporters at the convention after two fringe parties endorsed da Silva\u2019s run.
\u201cThey tried to exclude Lula from the political discussion,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is no political discussion in Brazil without Lula and the Workers\u2019 Party.\u201d
Centrist Marina Silva was also nominated by the Rede party on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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