Brazil - President - Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula, secured a second term in a landslide election victory in October 2006. He promised to boost economic growth and to narrow the gap between rich and poor. But with a weakened presence in congress, his left-wing Workers' Party may have to rely on political alliances to pursue planned tax, social security and political reforms. Lula implemented tough fiscal policies in his first term, overseeing economic stabilisation and falling levels of inflation and foreign debt. He changed the pension system and pushed through a modest increase in the minumum wage. Welfare programmes targeted millions of poor families. But he had to contend with a surge of land invasions by activists frustrated at what they saw as the slow pace of agrarian reform.