Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is likely to win a second term in office as Brazilians go to the polls today.
Opinion polls released on the eve of the ballot showed Lula with some 61 percent of the vote against 39 percent for former Sao Paulo state Gov. Geraldo Alckmin of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party.
Roughly 125 million voters in the world's fourth-largest democracy will cast their ballots, from remote hamlets in the Amazon to the sprawling slums and towering apartment blocks of the big cities. Electoral authorities expect to have tallied 90 percent of the votes by 10 p.m. (1:00 a.m. Irish time).
In Rio de Janeiro, construction worker Manoel Rosa was one of the residents of the Rocinha slum, or favela, who voted at a polling station at a neighbouring posh golf club.
"Lula speaks of improving the life of all people, not only the folks who come here to play golf. Maybe one day I'll play golf too," said Rosa, dressed in typical Rio attire of flip-flops, T-shirt and shorts despite the drizzling rain.
The key to Lula's expected victory is his support among the poor and workers, who have benefited from more jobs and spending power as well as welfare programs during his four-year term.
The predicted landslide would be a remarkable comeback from a welter of corruption scandals in the past two years that had threatened to end the former union leader's political career.
"Lula is the Teflon president par excellence," said Walder de Goes, a political consultant in Brasilia. "But he needs that ample victory to renew his legitimacy