Brazil's Silva says election win by Rousseff would deal machismo a blow, carry on his legacy

BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazil's president said his hand-picked candidate to succeed him in October's election would help do away with machismo by becoming the first female president of Latin America's largest and most influential nation.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Dilma Rousseff, currently his chief of staff, would carry on his legacy of boosting the economy while helping the poor. He rejected criticism that she isn't qualified because she has never been elected to office.

"If Dilma wasn't capable, if she had problems, I wouldn't have proposed Dilma," Silva said in an interview. "I wasn't going to offer to the Brazilian people - who have treated me with exceptional affection - a person in whom I didn't have confidence."

Rousseff, 62, was a Marxist as a young woman and received guerrilla training. She was jailed and tortured during Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship. After being released, she became an economist and joined Silva's Workers Party. She was mines and energy minister before becoming Silva's top adviser.

Silva said he selected a woman as his successor because he believes that "we've won this stage of discrimination against women. If it exists, it's the minority in the heads of reactionaries."

"The first demonstration that machismo will be defeated was my decision" to select Rousseff as his successor, said Silva, whose second four year term ends on Jan. 1, 2011.

Rousseff is expected to leave her current post in April to run against Jose Serra, the governor of Sao Paulo state, Brazil's most populous state and its financial and industrial hub. Serra lost to Silva in the 2002 presidential race.

Some political opponents have said that Rousseff could be authoritarian as president and steer the country to further to the left, allegations that that the centre-leftist Silva called unfounded. He said the charges made him recall the speculation that he would destroy Brazil's economy after he became the country's first working class president, following a lengthy career as a radical union leader and opposition politician.

Silva embraced free market policies after taking office that have helped Brazil's economy thrive, and he's also spent big on social programs to feed and house millions of poor Brazilians.

Brazil will get the same with Rousseff if his Workers Party wins the presidency for another four years, he said.

"I think that she won't only carry on (my legacy), but I believe that she can perfect it and do much more, because we have eight years of experience, and she has actively participated in every process of government, so she knows what things can be improved," Silva said.

Silva is wildly popular in Brazil, and analysts predict she may well ride his coattails to victory if no surprises emerge.

Serra leads Rousseff in presidential election polls, but she has been closing the gap rapidly.