Brazilians vote to elect Lula’s successor
By DPA, IANSSunday, October 3, 2010
RIO DE JANEIRO - Polls opened Sunday in Brazil in a general election that is set to name the successor of hugely popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
In most of Brazil, polling stations were to close at 8 p.m. GMT, with close to 136 million Brazilians — of a total of over 190 million — registered to vote.
Beyond the new president, set to be inaugurated Jan 1, Brazilians are to elect all 513 members of the lower house of Congress and 54 of their 81 senators, as well as the governors of all 26 states and the federal district of Brasilia.
Exit poll results are expected around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. GMT, with the first preliminary official results expected at around the same time.
Lula’s anointed successor, Dilma Rousseff, is favoured to win. Rousseff, 62, Lula’s former chief of staff, is the candidate of the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) although she has never before stood for public office.
Her main rival among eight other candidates is Jose Serra, 68, of the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB). The former governor of the state of Sao Paulo, the most powerful in Brazil, started the campaign as the favourite but then lost ground as Lula actively campaigned for Rousseff.
Sunday marks the first time since the return of democracy in 1985 when Brazilians have not had the option to vote for Lula for president.
