BRAZIL’S Workers Party held a meeting today to plan former president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva’s election campaign, despite losing a court appeal against a corruption conviction that disqualifies him.

Mr Da Silva, universally known as Lula, told a rally of supporters in Sao Paulo last night: “I am not worried about whether I will be a candidate for president or not.

“I want [the judges and prosecutors] to ask for forgiveness for the quantity of lies they told about me,” he said.