Brazil's Lula picks running mate to lead transition from current govt

SAO PAULO - Brazil's president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has appointed his running mate Geraldo Alckmin to head the transition team coordinating the handover of power with the current government of Jair Bolsonaro, said Gleisi Hoffmann, head of the Workers' Party.

"Our priority will be the budget issue, to keep the Auxilio Brasil (Help Brazil) welfare plan running and raise the minimum wage," Hoffman told reporters in Sao Paulo Tuesday.

In keeping with Lula's instructions, the transition team will also include the president of the Workers' Party and coordinator of the government program, former minister and economist Aloizio Mercadante.

The transition process is mandated by law and does not depend on the political acceptance of the election outcome.

Bolsonaro's transition team will be headed by his chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, leader of the Progressive Party, which is part of the "Centrao" forces comprising the majority bloc in Congress.

The transition teams will be headquartered at the Banco do Brasil Cultural Center in Brasilia for the two-month process in November and December.

"Vice President(-elect) Alckmin has the legitimacy and political capacity to carry this process forward," Hoffmann said.

Alckmin, of the Brazilian Socialist Party, is a conservative who served four terms as governor of the southeast state of Sao Paulo, Brazil's richest and most populous state.

Former President Lula da Silva won the second round of presidential elections on Sunday and is set to serve a third four-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2023.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao of the current government called Alckmin to acknowledge the ruling party's defeat and pledged to work together to complete the transition.