Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tried on Monday to distance himself from an alleged dirty tricks scandal in an attempt to halt the sliding support for him in the country's election campaign.

Lula, in an interview with Tupi radio, blamed his former campaign chief Ricardo Berzoini for his alleged role in a smear campaign against an opposition politician.

"There are so many people that get married and discover after a year that the woman was not ideal. It was the party president and my campaign coordinator then who chose the team," Lula said.

Berzoini, president of the ruling Labor Party, stepped down as Lula's election campaign manager after the alleged dirty tricks scandal.

The scandal emerged over the weekend after police arrested an attorney who was allegedly hired by Lula's party to buy an incriminating dossier against Jose Serra of the opposition Social Democracy Party (PSDB).

Serra was favored to win the Sao Paulo state governor election running as candidate of the PSDB, the main opponent of Aloizio Mercadante, of Lula's Labor Party.

The affair has slightly reduced Lula's commanding lead in opinion polls.

Lula's campaign staff said on Monday that the president would try hard to bounce back from the scandal in a bid to secure an absolute majority of the vote on Sunday to win in the first round.

"We are trying to occupy all (media) spaces to balance out the negative news surrounding the dossier," a campaign coordinator said. "If necessary, Lula will go to the debate."

Lula dismissed Berzoini and seven others last week.

A recent opinion poll revealed that Lula had retained a lead among competitors, but put him on the verge of a runoff.

The poll, conducted by the Public Opinion Research Institute (Ibope), showed 52 percent of people surveyed supported Lula's re-election bid.

His closest contender, Social Democratic Party candidate Geraldo Alckmin, received 36 percent of the vote.

A candidate has to gain more than 50 percent of the valid vote for a straight victory in the presidential election.

Source: Xinhua