<p> <br />If Brazil’s 136 million voters pick Rousseff, as polls suggest, the former Marxist guerrilla turned civil servant and minister in Lula’s government would lead the nation that has become Latin America’s rising star — an industrial and raw materials powerhouse with an increasingly influential role on the world stage.<br /><br />Lula’s chosen candidate, a 62-year-old cancer survivor nicknamed the “Iron Lady” for her steamroller-like determination and no-nonsense demeanour, is close to netting the majority to be named the outright winner in Sunday’s elections.<br /><br />Polls give her 50 per cent of voter intentions, well ahead of her nearest rival former Sao Paulo state governor Jose Serra who trails by more than 20 points. A former environment minister under Lula, Marina Silva, is in distant third place.<br /><br />If Rousseff fails to secure a clear-cut victory, she and Serra will go to a runoff on October 31 — a round polls say she would win by a landslide. Lula, who is barred constitutionally from seeking a third consecutive term, hands over power to his successor on January 1, 2011.<br /><br />The former trade union leader, who celebrates his 65th birthday this month, threw his formidable charisma behind Rousseff on the campaign policy, hoisting her from unknown into frontrunner status within months.<br /><br />Rousseff, who resigned as Lula’s chief minister in March to run for head of state, has promised to continue her mentor’s policies, with their mix of fiscal stability and extensive welfare handouts to Brazil’s poor.<br /><br />“I’m convinced the majority of people want continuity from the government.... That’s why I think Dilma will win,” Lula said on Friday as he and Rousseff toured his stronghold of Sao Bernardo do Campo, on Sao Paulo’s southern outskirts, where he will cast his ballot.<br />Rousseff, the daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant father and a Brazilian mother, was to vote in her southern home city of Porto Alegre. She and Lula were expected to go to Brasilia afterwards to wait for the elections results.</p>
<p> <br />If Brazil’s 136 million voters pick Rousseff, as polls suggest, the former Marxist guerrilla turned civil servant and minister in Lula’s government would lead the nation that has become Latin America’s rising star — an industrial and raw materials powerhouse with an increasingly influential role on the world stage.<br /><br />Lula’s chosen candidate, a 62-year-old cancer survivor nicknamed the “Iron Lady” for her steamroller-like determination and no-nonsense demeanour, is close to netting the majority to be named the outright winner in Sunday’s elections.<br /><br />Polls give her 50 per cent of voter intentions, well ahead of her nearest rival former Sao Paulo state governor Jose Serra who trails by more than 20 points. A former environment minister under Lula, Marina Silva, is in distant third place.<br /><br />If Rousseff fails to secure a clear-cut victory, she and Serra will go to a runoff on October 31 — a round polls say she would win by a landslide. Lula, who is barred constitutionally from seeking a third consecutive term, hands over power to his successor on January 1, 2011.<br /><br />The former trade union leader, who celebrates his 65th birthday this month, threw his formidable charisma behind Rousseff on the campaign policy, hoisting her from unknown into frontrunner status within months.<br /><br />Rousseff, who resigned as Lula’s chief minister in March to run for head of state, has promised to continue her mentor’s policies, with their mix of fiscal stability and extensive welfare handouts to Brazil’s poor.<br /><br />“I’m convinced the majority of people want continuity from the government.... That’s why I think Dilma will win,” Lula said on Friday as he and Rousseff toured his stronghold of Sao Bernardo do Campo, on Sao Paulo’s southern outskirts, where he will cast his ballot.<br />Rousseff, the daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant father and a Brazilian mother, was to vote in her southern home city of Porto Alegre. She and Lula were expected to go to Brasilia afterwards to wait for the elections results.</p>