RIO DE JANEIRO - Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticized the opposition parties Thursday for projecting a negative image of Brazil.

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"The Brazilian people do not want a vengeful, hateful, negative opposition. They want people who think about Brazil with optimism. The opposition wants disgrace just to be right. They won't have it," he said.

Lula, who is in London for a business seminar, also commented on an article recently written by his predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who is affiliated to the opposition party Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB).

In the article, Cardoso said it is impossible for the opposition to win the votes of the uneducated masses and of those who benefit from the government's welfare programs. He urged the PSDB to stop pursuing votes from the masses and focus on the new middle class, which is better informed and more likely to support their ideas.

"I do not know how someone can study so much and want to forget the masses," Lula said, referring to Cardoso's academic career. "The masses are Brazil's reason to exist, and are formed by the middle class, rich and poor. They are all Brazilians."

Cardoso's advice caused discomfort within the PSDB and led to criticism of several government politicians, who accused the party of being elitist and not caring about the Brazilian people's interests.