Rio De Janeiro: The shooting deaths of at least seven people and the arrests of 808 others -- including 101 candidates -- marred local elections across Brazil that were expected to give a big boost to the country's ruling coalition and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

A 30-year-old unidentified man was shot and wounded in the leg by guards when he ignored warnings and tried to enter Lula's official residence in the capital Brasilia, officials said yesterday.

Lula was not there at the time, having gone to his southwestern home town of Sao Bernardo do Campo to vote.

The incidents did not have a significant effect on the elections in the country, where 128 million voters were obliged by law to cast ballots, officials said.

The four-year mandates for mayors and municipal councillors in 5,563 towns, cities and villages were up for grabs.

Lula's leftwing Workers Party (PT in its Portuguese initials) and its 13 coalition partners were expected to sweep many of the bigger urban centres.

The mayors for the three biggest cities -- Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte -- would have to be decided in run-off elections to be held October 26,however, according to exit poll results released by the Ibope institute.

The Superior Electoral Court said after voting ended that 2,511 polling violation complaints had been registered during the day, resulting in the 808 arrests.

Many of the 101 candidates apprehended were running in the largely rural states of Minas Gerais, Espiritu Santo and Mato Grosso, it said.

Local media reported that three people, including the brother of a candidate running for mayor, were killed in two gunfire exchanges in the northeastern town of Bom Lugar where rival political groups clashed.
Source : PTI