Brasília, 6/30/2004 (Agência Brasil ) - In the first public opinion poll for the 2006 Brazilian presidential elections, run by the National Industrial Confederation (CNI) and Ibope (CNI/Ibope), president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the favorite.

Running against Jose Serra again, Lula had 30% and Serra 25%. In another hypothetical election, this time against former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula had 33% and Cardoso 16%. In both cases, there would have to be second, runoff vote.

A breakdown of the poll shows that Lula is more popular against Serra with male voters: 34% to 23%. But the ladies prefer Serra 28% to 25% for Lula.

The survey interviewed 2,000 voters over the age of 16 in 140 municipalities between the 17 and 21 of June. The margin of error is give or take 2.2 percentage points.

(Translator: Allen Bennett)