Rousseff in the Lead as Brazilian Election Run-off Approaches

Brazilia, Oct 28. -The Brazilian presidential candidate for the Worker´s Party (PT), Dilma Rousseff, held a 12-point advantage on Wednesday over opponent Jose Serra, leading up to Sunday's election run-off.

The last Datafolha Institute survey, published Tuesday in Jornal Nacional newspaper states that Rousseff had 56 percent of the vote and Serra, candidate of the opposition Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB), 44 percent.

The results are identical to those of the previuos survey released on Friday.

Datafolha surveyed 4,066 Brazilian eligible voters in 246 municipalities, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2. Blank and null votes totaled five percent, while eight percent was undecided.

Counting those votes, Rousseff has 49 percent of voter support and Serra 38 percent, which represents a slight difference compared with the previous survey, which was 50 percent for Rousseff and 38 percent for Serra.

The main difference between the last two Datafolha surveys lies in the increase of the undecided from six to eight percent, which predicts a possible high level of abstentionism in the run-off, even though voting is mandatory in Brazil for eligible voters 18-70 years old. (Prensa Latina)