Rousseff set for first-round win in Brazil election

A FORMER Marxist guerrilla chosen by Brazil’s most popular leader in history to succeed him was the front-runner in yesterday’s presidential election and hoped to pull off what even her predecessor couldn’t: a first-round win with no need for a runoff.

Dilma Rousseff, a 62-year-old bureaucrat, represents the ruling Workers Party and is the choice of outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, universally known as Lula, who led Brazil to unparalleled economic growth, increased the nation’s political clout on the global stage, and leaves office with 80% approval ratings.

The last polls published before election day showed Rousseff with a lead of about 20 percentage points over her closest rival, Jose Serra, a 68-year-old centrist from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party and former mayor and governor of Sao Paulo who was badly defeated by Silva in the 2002 election.