Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, came out strongly in support of the Internet for political campaigning while the Brazilian House of Representatives is ready to vote a bill which establishes serious restrictions to such a communications tool.
"The use of the net in political campaigns must be free and unrestricted; people need to know who their candidates are," said Lula talking in the northern state of Roraima.
"An election can't be something so scary for people to want to limit or ban information," underlined the president.
"All our lives we have struggled for political freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of communication, freedom of the press and now they are thinking in blocking those basic rights that make the essence of democracy."
Lula's comments are part of a national debate in Brazil on the use of Internet, which triggered the drafting of a restrictive project currently under consideration in Congress.
The bill in Congress refers to electoral legislation with specific chapters dedicated to Internet political information restrictions and a ban to all political publicity in Internet.
This week the Brazilian congress must consider several amendments to the original project introduced, among others, by Senator Aloizio Mercadante, head of the ruling Workers Party which has a relative majority in the Senate.
The bill must be approved by October 3 in time to regulate presidential elections of 2010.
The latest public opinion polls have opposition presidential hopeful and governor of São Paulo, José Serra, leading in vote intention with 39%.
A distant runner up is Dilma Rousseff, the candidate of the ruling party and who President Lula personally picked. She figures with a 20% vote intention support.
Mercopress