Let the games begin
Brazil’s election could go to penalties
By Helen Joyce
Elections and a football World Cup: 2014 will be a big year for Brazil. Since 1989, when the president was elected by popular vote after the military dictatorship stepped aside, presidential elections have become routine. But South America has not hosted a World Cup since 1978, and Brazil not since 1950.
Until recently the 2014 presidential race looked likely to be dull, the only doubt being by what margin the president, Dilma Rousseff, would win a second term. But in June small protests in a few cities about an increase in bus fares grew into Brazil’s biggest mass marches since 1992, when the caras pintadas (“painted faces”) took to the streets to demand the impeachment for corruption of the president, Fernando Collor. The anger the marches revealed about high prices, poor public services and endemic political corruption took its toll on Ms Rousseff, who slumped in the polls. Though she has since recovered a bit, she is unlikely to gain the 50% of the vote needed to avoid a run-off.