The Time Has Come

Editorial

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The time has come for a new President of Brazil. In just a matter of days for a new leader will be crowned, and the end of an era will pass. The campaigning stops on Thursday, and for many it will be a welcome end to an onslaught of media mania.

The first round of elections in Brazil sent the presidential race into a run-off round which comes to an end on October 31st. A big factor was Marina Silva, the ex-presidential candidate from Partido Verde (PV, Green Party), earning a larger percent of the votes then expected. With her out of the race, Brazilians now have just the two to choose from, or they can vote “null”.

The tallied results from the first round votes had Dilma Rousseff leading José Serra with 46.9 percent to 32.6 percent respectively, and Silva with 19.3 percent. In The Rio Times’ first Election Poll the results were much closer: Marina Silva 31.6 percent, José Serra 32.08 percent and Dilma Rousseff with 33.49 percent (and “other” at 2.83 percent).

Clearly Silva’s “green politics” resonated well with Expats and those abroad interested in the happenings here. Also one can infer that the Lula/PT (Workers’ Party) agenda does not interest some of our more capitalist-minded readers, to the extent is does among many Brazilians.

As we approach October 31st, Rousseff has been slowly increasing her lead according to the latest opinion polls, with around fifty percent of voter intentions against Serra’s forty percent, but of course things can change quickly.

Our Run-Off Round Poll is showing another close contest between the remaining candidates, a narrower margin then Brazilian polls show, although we are not offering a “null” option.

The time has come for some other big events as well, including a planned UPP campaign in Rocinha, and a new landfill for Rio. Also as the holiday season approaches and Samba schools heat up for Carnival, airlines are offering more flights and hotels are fully booked.

Yes, the time has come for summer in Rio.