Brazil poll result mixed for Lula

Brazil's local elections have brought mixed results for President Luiz Ignacio da Silva's Workers' Party.

Almost 130 million Brazilian voters went to the polls on Sunday to elect mayors and councillors.

The Workers' Party won mayoral votes in six out of 27 regional capitals but did worse than expected in Brazil's biggest city, Sao Paolo.

The elections are seen as an indicator of who may succeed Lula when he steps down in 2010.

Brazilians voted amid heavy security, with more than 5,000 soldiers joining 27,000 police in Rio de Janeiro to ensure that militias and drug gangs did not influence the ballot.

In the capital, Brasilia, a man who tried to get into the presidential residence was shot and wounded in the leg after ignoring warnings from guards. Lula was not in the residence at the time.