After two terms of Lula mania, Brazilians are going to the polls to elect their next president. The likely winner is Lula’s once chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, a former rebel and all-around bad ass who is poised to be the country’s first woman president.

Public opinion polls show a tight race, and if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote on Sunday, a runoff election will be held later this month. –JCL

The BBC:

Some 136 million Brazilians are voting to elect the successor to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is stepping down after two terms.

Mr Lula’s favoured successor, his former chief of staff Dilma Rousseff, is widely expected to win the election.

But she needs 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off poll later this month.

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