Dilma Rousseff in poll position as Brazilians set to vote for their wallets
Source: Guardian
Dilma Rousseff in poll position as Brazilians set to vote for their wallets
Despite a turbulent year, the president has emerged as favourite to top Sunday’s election, as support for her rivals slips away
Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro
The Guardian, Friday 3 October 2014 07.29 EDT
A little over a year ago, Júlia da Luz Bueno was among the million or so protesters who waved placards and chanted for change in the biggest protests Brazil has seen in a generation. This Sunday, however, she will go to the polling booth and vote for continuity: the re-election of Dilma Rousseff, the candidate for the ruling Workers party, as president.
The science student sees no contradiction. Although many things could be better, Da Luz Bueno thinks the country is on the right track, particularly with regard to economic measures that aim to address one of the world’s most unequal societies.
“In general, things have greatly improved for everyone in Brazil, especially for the poor,” she says. “I think Brazilians have confidence in the development of Brazil despite the large challenges we still face.”
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If the surveys are accurate, that would set the stage on 26 October for a first-ever run-off between two women to decide who leads this traditionally macho nation and the world’s seventh largest economy.
Both have extraordinary backgrounds. Rousseff is a former Marxist activist who was imprisoned and tortured during the military dictatorship. Silva is from a poor, mixed-race family of Amazonian rubber-tappers who campaigned alongside the late union activist and environmentalist Chico Mendes.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/03/dilma-rousseff-election-brazil-vote-president
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Dilma Rousseff, prisoner during the US-supported military junta in Brazil.
Dilma Rousseff, with previous Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.[/center]