Brazils Supreme Court early on Thursday rejected former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas bid to delay a 12 year prison sentence for corruption. The 6-5 ruling means that Lula could be arrested within days. The 11 judges deliberated for more than 10 hours from Wednesday into Thursday on Lulas request to avoid going to prison while he mounts fresh appeals. At 5-5, it was court president Carmen Lucia who cast the tie-breaking vote, saying that postponing serving of sentences "could lead to impunity." On the right, Lula is considered the face of corruption sweeping the countrys political elite. His imprisonment has long been the goal of prosecutors running Brazils "Car Wash" anti-graft investigation and he is now their biggest scalp. Leftists, however, remember Lulas 2003-2010 rule as a time when Brazil used its wealth to lift tens of millions of people out of poverty. For them, the entire corruption case against the 72-year-old founder of the leftist Workers Party is a sham. Lula, who was Brazils most popular leader on record and is the frontrunner in all opinion polls for the presidential election in October, was sentenced to 12 years and one month prison after being convicted last year of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe from a major construction company seeking government contracts. He appealed in a lower court but lost. Under current law, that meant he should go immediately to prison, even while conducting further appeals in two higher courts. However, Lula applied to the Supreme Court for habeas corpus, allowing him to remain free during the appeals, potentially keeping him out of jail for a long period. The Supreme Courts deliberations on the sensitive case took place under extraordinary social and political pressure. Late Tuesday, up to 20,000 people demonstrated in Brazils biggest city, Sao Paulo, to demand Lula go to prison and be barred from the election, with smaller rival rallies gathering in Brasilia on Wednesday. More than 5,000 judges and prosecutors sent the Supreme Court a petition for Lula to be imprisoned immediately and justices have received thousands of emails on the subject. At the same time, the court had to contend with the fact that Lula remains enormously popular with much of the population, especially in the poorer north-east.