Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos killed in plane crash

[Judi Lynn]

Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos killed in plane crash

Seven confirmed dead on private jet crashing in bad weather in Santos, south of São Paulo, leaving October election in disarray

Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro
The Guardian, Wednesday 13 August 2014 12.50 EDT

Brazil's presidential election campaign was thrown into uncertainty on Wednesday when a private jet carrying the socialist party candidate, Eduardo Campos crashed into a residential area near São Paulo.

Campos and the six other crew and passengers were killed in the accident, which occurred in bad weather as the Cessna plane was preparing to land.

The deaths prompted a wave of mourning across the country, which is likely to be followed by speculation about the effect on the presidential vote on 5 October.

Campos, a former Pernambuco governor with a business-friendly reputation, had shaken the political world by choosing environmentalist Marina Silva as his running mate.

The unlikely couple were in third place in the closely fought race to run Latin America's most populous and economically powerful nation. Silva – who was runner-up to Dilma Rousseff in the last election in 2010 – is now widely expected to head the campaign, though she has yet to comment.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/13/brazil-presidential-candidate-eduardo-campos-killed-in-plane-crash

[Judi Lynn]

1. Brazil candidate's death makes runoff more likely, pressures Rousseff

Brazil candidate's death makes runoff more likely, pressures Rousseff

Source: Reuters - Wed, 13 Aug 2014 23:11 GMT
Author: Reuters
By Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA, Aug 13 (Reuters) - The death of presidential candidate Eduardo Campos makes it even more likely Brazil's October election goes to a second round and could put President Dilma Rousseff under more pressure as she seeks a second term.

Campos died in a plane crash on Wednesday and his running mate Marina Silva is expected to pick up the baton and run for president herself. She is a popular figure who won 19.3 percent of the vote when she ran in 2010.

Silva has greater name recognition and more supporters than Campos had given that the campaign is still in its early stages. Her candidacy could give his Brazilian Socialist Party a boost and deprive Rousseff of votes she needs to avoid a second-round runoff against her main contender, Senator Aecio Neves.

"The chances of a second round have increased a lot, because Marina Silva will draw more votes away from Rousseff than she will from Aecio Neves," said David Fleischer, a professor of politics at the University of Brasilia.

More:
http://www.trust.org/item/20140813230349-vk4pw/