Brazilian elections: Tight race between Neves and Rousseff

A new poll published on Monday by Vox Populi shows the race for the Brazilian presidency is somewhat tied between Aécio Neves and Dilma Rousseff, with only one week left before the second round due on 26 October.

The Brazilian polling company said Rousseff is slightly ahead of Neves at 45% against 44%.

However, the poll has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points, which means the two candidates are tied.

The news follows a separate poll published by Datafolha last Friday, which showed 46% of the votes likely to go to Aécio Neves against 44% to Rousseff.

According to the poll, Neves is more popular among the youth, with 52% of young voters expected to vote for him in the second round.

However, 52% of the poorest voters are leaning towards re-electing Rousseff, while 69% of the richest are most likely to vote for Neves next week.

Neves’s campaign was boosted on Sunday when Brazilian environmentalist and politician Marina Silva, who came in third in the first round of the presidential elections, announced she would endorse him in the run-off.