Weighing up the options

The Brazilian energy market is set for more upheaval as the incoming president seeks a compromise between his campaign promises of greater state control over energy and the goal of attracting foreign investors into the sector. Maria Kielmas reports

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – widely known as Lula – recently won the Brazilian presidency at his fourth attempt against a divided governing coalition by dampening down his earlier radical rhetoric. But his campaign proposals for energy sector reform were based on a reversal of the sector liberalisation under way in Brazil over the past decade and contained two fundamental goals. One was to protect the ability of low-income groups to have access to electricity (some 20 million of Brazil’s 170