BRAZIL: Opposition presidential candidate Jose Serra and ruling party front-runner Dilma Rousseff stage campaign events

Record ID: 345229

  • Title: BRAZIL: Opposition presidential candidate Jose Serra and ruling party front-runner Dilma Rousseff stage campaign events
  • Date: 25th October 2010
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (OCTOBER 24, 2010) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF COPACABANA BEACH BRAZIL'S OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOSE SERRA WITH OTHER IMPORTANT MEMBERS OF HIS PSDB PARTY ON TRUCK DURING CAMPAIGN PARADE SERRA SUPPORTERS HOLDING POSTERS IN CAMPAIGN PARADE SERRA WITH HIS RUINNING MATE INDIO DA COSTA AND MINAS GERAIS GOVERNOR AECIO NEVES GENERAL VIEW OF P
  • Embargoed: 9th November 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACVHNT0YZ6PT8O0AAFHZM1AU6Z
  • Story Text: Brazil's opposition presidential candidate Jose Serra and the ruling party front-runner Dilma Rousseff competed for Rio de Janeiro's votes on Sunday (October 24) with massive campaign events in the city.
    Serra's campaign walk took hundreds of supporters to Rio's famous Copacabana beach, where he waved to supporters atop a truck.
    With one week to go until the October 31 election runoff, recent polls showed Rousseff extended her lead over Serra to10 percentage points.
    Alongside his running mate Indio da Costa, Serra responded to accusations by the ruling Workers' Party about his plans to privatize public companies such as the state-run oil firm Petrobras.
    Serra said companies such as Petrobras should serve the people instead of government interests.
    "I defend Petrobras as state-run company that should serve the Brazilian people and not as a place for nepotism or as a business instrument or cohesion element to create a false alliance to run our country," he said.
    Rousseff has constantly tried to portray the PSDB as the "privatization" party - a strategy that proved successful for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva four years ago.
    Serra supporters also made a giant doll of the candidate with a band-aid on its head, making reference to the recent episode when he was struck on the head by an object thrown by a Workers' Party supporter. Other supporters wore helmets to protest against the incident.
    His party took advantage of the incident to accuse the ruling party of inciting violence during campaign events.
    About 30 kilometers away, in Rio's poor outskirts, Rousseff and Lula staged a similar parade that drew hundreds to the streets of Realengo.
    Both Rousseff and Lula rode by the crowd of supporters inside an open jeep and left without speaking.
    Catarina da Silva, a Rio resident from Realengo neighborhood said she and her neighbors would vote for Rousseff because of Lula.
    "Lula did a lot for our country and we are very grateful to him and that's why we are going to vote for Dilma, because what he asks us to do, we do," she said.
    A potential setback for Serra is a November 2 holiday that makes election day part of a long weekend. Serra's biggest constituency are wealthy Brazilians who are more likely to travel over the holiday weekend outside their voting districts, where they are not allowed to cast ballots.
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