World Bulletin / News Desk

Despite a law that forbids politicians whose convictions have been upheld by an appeals court from running for public office, Brazil’s Workers’ Party has registered former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as its candidate for the presidency in the October elections.

Lula has been in prison since April, charged with corruption and money laundering, but he continues to run the Workers’ Party and even determines the moves of other political organizations.

This story began on Wednesday, just a few hours after Fernando Haddad, the former mayor of Sao Paulo and Lula’s running mate, along with former president Dilma Rousseff and Workers’ Party president Gleis Hoffmann registered Lula as their party's official candidate.

Attorney General Raquel Dodge, who holds the highest post in the Public Electoral Ministry, asked the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to object to Lula’s candidacy, but Lula still leads in the polls.

After this, the tribunal began evaluating various petitions to help it decide. Although the most probable outcome is that Lula’s candidacy will be rejected, the final decision will not be made public until Sept. 17.

According to the Clean Slate Law, which was sanctioned under Lula’s own government, candidates who were declared guilty by a tribunal and then used legal means to appeal and were again found guilty are not allowed to run for public office.

But the former president’s lawyers maintain that he has the right to run for president again. Their main argument is that Lula did not pass through all courts, which means his sentence could still be overturned by the Supreme Federal Tribunal.

They also argue that Lula’s registration as a candidate allows him to carry out a political campaign and to have his name on the ballot box regardless of his candidacy being questioned by the electoral justice body