Sawt Falasteen - Rio to kick off Carnival parade with ode to Lula in election year

The parades of the city's top 12 samba schools -- a ferocious competition featuring towering, animated floats, thundering drum sections and scantily-clad samba queens dripping in sequins -- are the showpiece of Rio's carnival.

Behind the pomp and glitter, each school chooses an annual theme, often linked to Afro-Brazilian heritage, social or political commentary, mythology and environmental issues.

Samba school Academicos de Niteroi from a city neighboring Rio, which will be the first to parade on Sunday, has chosen to honor Lula, the first time a serving president is the subject of a tribute on the famed Sambodrome avenue.

Lula's wife, Rosangela 'Janja' Da Silva, is expected to take part in the parade, and local media reports the president will watch from one of the VIP boxes along the 700-meter-long avenue.

Public rehearsals of the show, without the full costumes and floats, created an uproar after mocking images of former president Jair Bolsonaro were shown on a screen.

The opposition denounced the parade as equivalent to a campaign event months before official campaigning begins in August, and demanded public funding be cut to the samba school.

Brazil's electoral court, the TSE, on Thursday unanimously rejected requests filed by two opposition parties to stop Academicos from parading on Sunday on account of the show being "early electoral campaigning."

The court said it could not block a parade which has not happened yet, as there was no evidence of an election law violation -- but warned it could probe wrongdoing after the show.

Members of the court warned they were not giving anyone a "free pass," and that the case was still ongoing and the public prosecutor had been notified.

Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth term in the October elections.

Jailed far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro has anointed his eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his political heir and presidential candidate.

- Warnings against election propaganda -

On Friday, the presidency warned officials attending carnival events to "refrain from making statements that could be characterized as early electoral propaganda."

Lula's Worker's Party (PT) on Saturday said the Academicos tribute to Lula was "a cultural manifestation, and any activity of an electoral nature is prohibited at this time."

The party issued guidelines to avoid clothing, banners, campaign slogans or "expressions that constitute offense to opponents."

The Academicos parade will involve 3,000 people and feature different scenes from Lula's life, from his poor beginnings in Brazil's northeast, to his time as a factory worker and union leader.

The accompanying samba song chants out "Ole, ole, ole, ola; Lula, Lula!", and declares "no amnesty" -- a reference to efforts by Bolsonaro's supporters to get him freed from a 27-year jail term he is serving for plotting a failed coup.

"This is not propaganda, it's a tribute," Hamilton Junior, one of the school's directors, told AFP.

He said it was a story of a man who "faced many hardships and became one of Brazil's greatest presidents."

H.Nasr--SF-PST