Will Brazil elect Dilma Rousseff its president on halloween day?

Dilma, 57%; Serra, 43% (29 October). 

28 October.

Brazilians will go to the polls tomorrow, Sunday, to elect their next president who will assume office on January 1, 2011.  That's Halloween day for America and Europe or in countries like the Philippines where commerce has grafted an imported cultural practice alien to their All Soul's religious folk traditions.

Halloween may not be a big thing in Brazil like the year-long fascination with football especially now that they prepare for Copa 2016, and the frenzied celebrations of the annual Carnival in Rio and the Cirio in Belem.

Dilma, 49%, Serra, 38% (26 October).

20 October.

They take their party-ideology driven politics seriously.  The president of the country must have more than 50% of the popular votes cast, otherwise, they go through run-off elections for a candidate to achieve that majority.  President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's full backing had Dilma Rousseff top the scoring among three candidates in the 03 October elections, but she failed to get the desired majority.

The run-off has her against the centrist candidate Jose Serra. She has maintained a significant lead throughout the campaign period as reflected by the several surveys done.  We love the way the front pages of Brazilian papers, spread out in this story, has been presenting the Dilma-Serra survey scores. 

If we go by those results, Dilma Rousseff has won the presidency and the polls tomorrow would just be the official validation of the informal selection.

In the debate, Dilma scored 48% and Serra 41%.

We thought that the Roman Catholic Church would keep its distance from this political affair. It's been reported that the bishops signed and circulated a letter urging voters to keep off Rousseff, who is fully backed by President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

The Federal District judge barred the airing of a priest's sermon campaigning against Rousseff, a clear separation of religious and civilian functions.

It looks like the Vatican itself has asked the bishops to be vigilant on the issue of decriminalizing abortion, illegal except in the cases of rape or when a woman's life is at risk, which was hotly debated on by the two presidential contenders.

We will see how the bishops could sway voters away from Dilma.

Wondering if the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines are monitoring this political event in far away Brazil.

29 October.