Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (born 27 October 1945), popularly known simply as Lula, is a Brazilian politician and former union leader who served as the 35th President of Brazil from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2010. A popular and ambitious politician, he is currently serving a 12 year prison sentence for numerous corruption charges. Lula was a founding member of the Workers' Party (PT) and ran unsuccessfully for President three times before achieving victory in the 2002 election, being re-elected in the 2006 election.