SAO PAULO: Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched his campaign for a new presidential term Saturday, vowing to rebuild Brazil after what he called the "irresponsible and criminal" administration of far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. The campaign launch sealed a remarkable political comeback for Lula (2003-2010), four years after the 76-year-old leftist icon was jailed on controversial corruption charges.

"We're ready to work not only to win the election on October 2, but to rebuild and transform Brazil, which will be even more difficult," the charismatic but tarnished steelworker-turned-politician told a rally in Sao Paulo, standing before a giant Brazilian flag. Speaking in his trademark gravelly voice, he said Bolsonaro-whom he did not mention by name-had made Brazil a "pariah" with polarizing policies, attacks on democratic institutions and surging destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

"We need to change Brazil once again... We need to return to a place where no one ever dares to defy democracy again. We need to send fascism back to the sewer of history, where it should have been all along," he told a cheering crowd of thousands, calling on "all democrats" to join him.

It was hardly a secret Lula, who has enjoyed a long-though shrinking-lead in the polls, would jump into the campaign, which does not officially start until August. He has been in unofficial campaign mode since March last year, when the Supreme Court annulled the corruption convictions that sidelined him from politics. The ruling instantly set up this year's elections as a polarizing clash between arch-enemies Lula and Bolsonaro.

Surprise return

Lula left office with approval ratings of 87 percent, after presiding over a golden period that lifted some 30 million Brazilians from poverty. But the onetime shoeshine boy's towering legacy came crashing down with the explosion of "Operation Car Wash," a sweeping investigation that uncovered a massive corruption scheme centered on state-run oil company Petrobras.

Lula, who calls the case a conspiracy, was convicted on bribe-taking charges and jailed from April 2018 to November 2019 -- missing the 2018 presidential race, which Bolsonaro won. In a Brazil deeply divided over Bolsonaro's combative style, social media polemics, weak performance on the economy and chaotic handling of COVID-19, Lula returned to the ring with the immediate status of front-runner.

Slipping poll numbers

But Bolsonaro, 67, has narrowed the gap in the latest polls-and made it clear he won't leave power without a fight. Lula has meanwhile made a series of recent gaffes, including politically tone-deaf remarks on abortion, the police and the middle class. He has also looked out of sync with world leaders he aspires to rub elbows with again-saying, for example, that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is "as responsible as" Russia's Vladimir Putin for the Ukraine war.

Lula has reportedly shaken up his campaign team recently, removing long-time ally Franklin Martins as communications chief. "He has made several disastrous statements in recent weeks," Sylvio Costa, founder of news site Congresso em Foco, told AFP. "And, above all, Lula needs to go to the street." The Workers' Party founder said he would now do just that, crisscrossing the country to meet with "the people." Wearing a sharp navy suit, his shirt open at the collar, Lula stuck strictly to the script at his rally, rather than speaking off the cuff as he typically does.

But he was short on tangible planks for his platform. "Instead of promises, I present the immense legacy of our administration," he said. Courting the wary business sector and seeking to build a broad base, Lula has tapped market-friendly centrist Geraldo Alckmin-the opponent he defeated in the 2006 presidential race-as his running-mate.

"Brazil today has the most disastrous and cruel government in its history. Lula is our only hope," Alckmin, a former Sao Paulo governor who was home with a mild case of COVID-19, told the rally by video link. Cheering the veteran leftist on, 63-year-old retiree Odilon da Silva Freire agreed. "Lula governed for everyone, especially the poor," he said. "He has to be president again. He's the best we ever had." - AFP