BRASILIA – (Reuters) – President Dilma Rousseff has regained the edge in Brazil’s presidential race after weeks of aggressive campaigning against environmentalist Marina Silva, who has lost ground among voters in the campaign’s homestretch, polls showed yesterday.
A survey by the closely watched Ibope polling firm showed Rousseff and Silva are tied at 41 percent in a likely second-round runoff that is expected to decide the election.
According to another smaller poll by Vox Populi, Rousseff has overtaken Silva and opened a seven-point lead in an expected second-round of voting.
“This week will be critical to see if Rousseff still has momentum to flip the lead in more than one poll,” said Joao Augusto Castro Neves of the Eurasia political risk consultancy, which views Rousseff as the favorite to win.
If no candidate wins an outright majority in the first round on Oct 5, the election will be decided in a runoff between the top two vote-getters on Oct 26.
Silva, who would be Brazil’s first black president, was leading runoff polls before the Rousseff campaign unleashed a wave of negative campaign ads questioning Silva’s ability to lead Latin America’s largest economy
