Brazilians voted on Sunday in a bitterly-contested election that pits a leftist President with strong support among the poor against a centrist senator who is promising pro-business policies to jumpstart a stagnant economy.
Polls give a slight edge to incumbent Dilma Rousseff (66), who is seeking a second four-year term. Her Workers’ Party has held power for 12 years and leveraged an economic boom to expand social welfare programs and lift over 40 million people from poverty.
But many voters believe Aecio Neves (54), a former State Governor with strong support among upper-middle class and wealthy Brazilians, offers a much-needed change of the guard for Latin America’s biggest economy.
Voters are likely to be divided between those who feel better off than they did before the Workers’ Party took office and those who believe its reign is no longer producing results.
More than 140 million people are registered to vote in Brazil, where casting a ballot is mandatory for everyone between the ages of 18 and 70.
Voting is electronic, even at remote Amazon polling stations and hamlets in Brazil’s historically poor Northeast.
