Brazil goes to polls today after dramatic campaign season

Brazilians go to the ballot box today in a national election where President Dilma Rousseff says her top challengers threaten social gains achieved during 12 years of Workers’ Party rule. Polling stations open at 8 a.m. today and close at 5 p.m. local time. Opinion polls published yesterday show the incumbent ahead without the majority of votes required to avert a runoff in three weeks against either Senator Aecio Neves or former Environment Minister Marina Silva. Silva, who once looked set to become Brazil’s first black president, has slipped behind Neves for the first time and enters Sunday’s first-round election in third place, according to three separate surveys.

We never imagined the campaign airtime would be full of lies. It’s very bad for democracy. But I’ve maintained a positive strategy, making the case for my proposals, not responding in kind.

Former front-runner Marina Silva

The election, set to be the closest in a generation, is widely seen as a referendum on 12 years of government by Rousseff’s Workers’ Party (PT). The vast country is divided between voters loyal to the PT for an economic boom that lifted millions from poverty in the 2000s and those calling for an end to the corruption scandals, poor public services and four years of disappointing growth.

She [Rousseff] is probably afraid. I don’t think she’s ready to face us. We’ll be in the second round and we’ll win the election.

Brazilian presidential hopeful Aecio Neves

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