"I don't know his names, but I'll stick to whoever Lula tells me to. He is Lula's son, right?" asks retiree José Paulino Filho, 75, after being informed that Fernando Haddad (PT) is replacing the former president in the upcoming presidential elections.
At Solidão, Quixaba e Calumbi, three towns in the Pernambuco backcountry, wherein 2006 Lula had 90% of all votes, Haddad is just a number.
Even after officially replacing Lula in the ticket, on September 11th, many people in the area don't know who is, what is his political career and where he comes from. Some "saw on the screen", but don't remember much more.
In the heart of Lulaland, which is spread by a large area of Pernambuco's rural areas, the degree of unfamiliarity with Fernando Haddad is exactly equal to the residents' disposition to vote for him.
Among the low-income population here, a group that represents Lula's base and where Haddad skyrocketed in the latest polls, only a handful knows the candidate's first name, Fernando. His last name is creatively reinvented: Adraike, Adauto, Andrade, Alade and Radarde.
The campaign message of "Haddad is Lula and Lula is Haddad" is most visible in the backcountry. The most common and fastest answer here when people are asked in whom they are going to vote for is only one: Lula.
The Northeast, according to a Datafolha poll released Thursday (20th), is the only Brazilian region in which more than half of voters (53%) say Lula's support would determine their candidate choice.
Translated by NATASHA MADOV