BRASILIA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Workers' Party (PT) announced Monday that it would not recognize the results of the presidential election in October if former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is barred from running.
PT President Gleisi Hoffmann said on the party's website that without Lula's candidacy, "we will have an illegitimate electoral process and the continued rupture of the democratic pact we made with the Constitution of 1988: a sovereign vote and free elections."
Ruling out the possibility of somebody else standing for the PT, Hoffmann said Lula is the party's chosen candidate.
"Lula is and will be candidate as he is innocent, condemned unjustly, without a proven crime...the most popular leader," she added.
Lula has been sentenced to 12 years and one month in prison for passive corruption and money laundering. He lost his first appeal and if he loses subsequent ones, will be declared ineligible to run for public office.
The PT said it will use all legal recourses to defend Lula. The Supreme Court has the final say on Lula's eligibility to run or not.
In previous polls on preferred candidates for the presidential election, Lula enjoyed a clear lead over his potential rivals.
