SAO PAULO: Opposition leader Aecio Neves, who vows to shake up Brazil’s stagnant economy with fiscal austerity and pro-market policies, is chipping away at President Dilma Rousseff’s lead four months from election day, a poll published yesterday showed.
Neves, a senator and former governor of Brazil’s second richest state Minas Gerais, will be nominated later on Saturday by his centrist PSDB party to run for president and challenge Rousseff’s re-election bid.
Rousseff dropped to 32.2 percent this month from 34 percent in a previous poll in April, while Neves climbed to 21.5 percent from 19.9 percent, the polling firm Sensus said. The poll confirmed the results of other recent surveys that predict Rousseff will not win enough votes on October 5 to avoid a bruising second round.
Rousseff is still favoured to win a runoff by 37.8 percent against 32.7 percent for Neves, but the gap between them has narrowed to 5.1 from 6.7 percentage points in April, according to the Sensus poll.
The polls suggest the October election could be the toughest for the ruling Workers’ Party since it came to power in 2003.
Polls showing declining support for Rousseff has boosted the Sao Paulo stock market, which hit a seven-month high on Wednesday, as investors bet on a move away from state intervention in the economy under Rousseff’s government.
Reuters
