Havana, Nov 2 (IANS) Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said a victory of Democratic Party contender Barack Obama in the US presidential poll would be “an extraordinary thing” and equated it with the leftist victory in some Latin American countries, EFE reported Sunday.America goes to poll Tuesday to elect their president between Barack Obama, the first black American to get a party nomination for the highest office of the country, and Republican John McCain.

Lula, who ended Friday a 22-hour visit to Cuba, said here Obama’s victory would be like his and that of other leftist leaders of South America.

“In the same way that Brazil elected a metalworker (Lula himself), Bolivia an aboriginal (Evo Morales), Venezuela a (Hugo) Chavez and Paraguay a bishop (Fernando Lugo), I believe it will be an extraordinary thing if in the biggest economy in the world a black (Barack Obama) is elected president,” the Brazilian president said.

Lula had earlier said one of the “benefits” of the worldwide economic turmoil would be the election of Obama as the US president.

“This crisis, among the benefits it will produce (is) the election of Obama as president of the United States [and] it will help to elect a black man, which is not insignificant,” Lula said.