Lula's legacy for Brazil's next president

Lula leaves behind a booming economy but challenges remain for his successor

BBC News:

Eight years on, as Lula prepares to bow out on 1 January 2011, he basks in approval ratings that most politicians can only dream of.

"Lula was the first common man to come to power in what is a very unequal society," said Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in the US.

"Brazilians have had successful presidents before but he is the first they feel comfortable with."

Lula's life story echoes that of many Brazilians: a poor boy from the impoverished north-east who made his way to find work in the industrial belt of Sao Paulo.

Cremilda Maria da Silva, 35, who lives in a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Cabo de Santo Agostinho in Lula's home state of Pernambuco has no doubts about what his presidency has meant for her.

"It has been the best government, before Lula, we didn't have a government," she said.

Cremilda, who lives with her husband and seven children, is among many poor Brazilians to see their standard of living rise over the past eight years.

"I know that Bolsa Familia existed before but Lula expanded it," Cremilda says, referring to the scheme under which some 12 million families get up to 200 reais a month as long as they keep their children in school.

What is not in dispute, however, is that Brazil has made great progress in reducing poverty.

According to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), some 22.6% of Brazilians were living below the poverty line in 2008, down from more than 34% in 2002.

A study published in September by the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a Rio-based policy group, found that some 29 million Brazilians had entered what is termed the middle class between 2003 and 2009, with average monthly incomes between 1,126 reais and 4,854 reais ($658-$2839; £417-£1797).

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