By Stan Lehman
Associated Press Writer
Monday, Oct. 2, 2000; 12:02 p.m. EDT

SAO PAULO, Brazil –– A left-wing politician won the most votes in the election for mayor of Brazil's largest city, but failed to gain enough support to avoid a runoff, according to final results.

With all votes counted in Sao Paulo, Marta Suplicy of the Workers Party had 38 percent of the vote, more than twice the share of two-time former mayor and governor Paulo Maluf of the Progressive Populist Party, who got 17.35 percent, the Sao Paulo State Electoral Tribunal said Monday.

Suplicy, a Stanford-educated psychologist, is expected to easily defeat Maluf in an Oct. 29 runoff, pollsters say.

Former Mayor Luiza Erundina of the Brazilian Socialist Party, who finished fifth, said she would support Suplicy in the runoff.

Nationwide, nearly 110 million voters went to the polls in 5,559 cities and towns to elect mayors and 60,332 city councilors.

In 15 of Brazil's 26 state capitals, the election was decided Sunday when one candidate got more than 50 percent of the votes. The other 11 races will go to a runoff.

All the votes had been counted by Monday morning in major cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, but some results from the Amazon region had not been announced. The Superior Electoral Tribunal, the federal agency in charge of elections, said all the votes would be counted by late Monday.

Overall, the Workers Party – known by its Portuguese initials PT – appeared to be a winner. PT candidates qualified for runoffs in major cities such as Porto Alegre, Recife, Curitiba and Goiania, and opinion polls suggested the party also would hold on to Belem, the capital of northern Para state.

The Liberal Front Party (PFL) was expected to retain control in Rio de Janeiro. With all votes counted, incumbent Mayor Luiz Paulo Conde had 35 percent and will go to the second round against his predecessor Cesar Maia of the Brazilian Labor Party, who had 23 percent.

Suplicy first won national attention years ago with frank talk about sex as a TV personality. As a congresswoman, she raised conservative eyebrows for her outspoken defense of abortion and gay rights.

A Suplicy victory in Sao Paulo – the country's economic and financial nerve center – could give the Workers Party an important boost ahead of the 2002 presidential elections. But even Suplicy's supporters and fellow party members acknowledge it depends on how well her administration performs during the first year in office.

"The city is bankrupt and her first year will have to be one of austerity," said Workers Party congressman Aloisio Mercadante. "We have a tough job ahead of us, and if we fail, her victory could backfire."

Whoever wins will be faced with a debt of $9 billion left behind by Maluf and incumbent Mayor Celso Pitta, who has been convicted of corruption twice and narrowly escaped impeachment.