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Marina leaps ahead in presidential debate; wants brightest minds to join her government

Thursday, August 28th 2014 - 06:51 UTC
Full article 13 comments
“The colorful Brazil that President Dilma has described only exists in the cinema” said Silva, vowing to shake up Brazil's politics “The colorful Brazil that President Dilma has described only exists in the cinema” said Silva, vowing to shake up Brazil's politics
The prospect of a Rousseff defeat has rallied Brazil's stock market for two weeks, with investors betting on an end to interventionist economic policies The prospect of a Rousseff defeat has rallied Brazil's stock market for two weeks, with investors betting on an end to interventionist economic policies

A surging Marina Silva took Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff to task in an election debate Tuesday night when she touted her government's achievements in improving social conditions and defending wages in the midst of global economic crisis.

 “The colorful Brazil that President Dilma has described only exists in the cinema” said Silva, vowing to shake up Brazil's politics by governing without murky pacts with traditional parties but also inviting their brightest minds to join her.

Analysts say Silva has benefited from sympathy over the tragic death of Eduardo Campos, who had invited her to join his ticket as his running mate, and they will be watching a series of opinion polls this week to see if support for Silva wanes after the initial surge.

Silva is seen as an anti-establishment figure who could restore ethical principles to Brazilian politics and she appeals to voters who are disenchanted with Brazil's main parties. A fervent evangelical Christian, she will also draw votes from this growing religious constituency.

A poll released this week showed Silva stealing support from all candidates, including another evangelical candidate Pastor Everaldo, and drawing uncommitted voters into the election.

The prospect of Silva defeating Rousseff has rallied Brazil's stock market for two weeks, with investors betting on an end to the populist president's interventionist economic policies, which have undermined business confidence in the once high-flying emerging market economy.

Yet Silva's intransigent style of politics may make it difficult for her to build the coalitions with traditional political parties that she would need to govern Brazil.

Silva's economic platform will be announced on Friday. While her policies remain a mystery, her top adviser, Eduardo Giannetti, has said they will be as orthodox and market-friendly as those of Neves.

Silva met recently with bankers in Sao Paulo and said, if elected, she would mostly delegate economic policy to a respected group of advisers. “I'm not going to try to manage something I don't understand,” one banker present quoted her as saying.

A new poll shows Marina Silva would defeat Dilma in a runoff vote in October’s election. The poll was conducted by the respected Ibope firm and was published on the Estado de Sao Paulo’s website.

It says 45% of respondents would vote for former environment minister Silva in an expected second-round, compared to 36% for Rousseff.

Silva has 29% of voter support heading into the October 5 vote, according to the survey. The poll showed Rousseff with 34%, down from 38% in the previous Ibope survey in early August. The other main opposition candidate, Senator Aécio Neves, had 19% support, down from 23% in the last Ibope poll.

In a likely second-round runoff on October 26 between the top two vote-getters, Silva would defeat Rousseff by a margin of nine percentage points, according to the poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Ibope surveyed 2,506 people nationwide between Aug. 23-26 for the poll.

Categories: Politics, Brazil.

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  • cornelius

    “Silva is seen as an anti-establishment figure who could restore ethical principles to Brazilian politics and she appeals to voters who are disenchanted with Brazil's ”

    Another communist she is quoting all the codes for more socialism and communist ideology poor brazil is heading toward and abyss that will never get out.

    Aug 28th, 2014 - 08:48 am 0
  • GeoffWard2

    I think she will be a pragmatist - as her meeting with the S.P. industrial community shows.
    The one thing she will fight against is coalition and selling her political soul to the establishment devils.
    There is hope yet.
    There is hope ... yet ..

    My vote would go to Neves - especially if he could achieve the same anti-coalition, anti-establishment, anti-corruption ends.
    But in the end he succeeds by being 'pro' and good at 'pro'.
    Personally, I would trust him further than I could throw him.

    Give me almost anybody rather than the P.T. coalitions.

    Aug 28th, 2014 - 09:32 am 0
  • Conqueror

    “A fervent evangelical Christian, she will also draw votes from this growing religious constituency”. What a horrifying prospect. Isn't a Brazilian politician going to have problems with Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour and Thou shalt not covet? What about Honour thy father and thy mother if you can tell the difference? At least it should put an end to Brazil's attempts to get a permanent Security Council seat. How, as a fervent Christian, could she lie enough to justify such a thing? Still, perhaps she could spend a few years telling the truth. Where CFK's stashed her money! How many lies “Pepe” has told! All about Correa and Morales. Loads of ICC cases.

    Aug 28th, 2014 - 12:45 pm 0
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