Brazilian presidential candidate and Green Party Senator Marina Silva from the state of Acre called the decision by her political party not to support any candidate in the October 31st runoff, “not neutrality, but independence.”
She pointed out that the decision was reached through a floor vote at a party convention and “will strengthen democracy and a discussion of the issues that interest the country.”
Marina explained that in reality the party is not neutral as it was decided that party members who want to can support one of the candidates, without using Green Party symbols.
“They can take the political position they want to as citizens, but not as members of the party. As citizens they are free to do want they want to do,” she declared. Asked which candidate she would vote for, Marina refused to answer. “The vote is secret,” was all she said.
The vote at the PV convention was 88 to 4 in favor of not taking sides in the race between Dilma Rousseff and José Serra.
In a speech, Marina criticized the runoff candidates for putting aside innovation and becoming conservative. She accused them of falling into a trap she called “pragmatism without limits,” saying there should be more discussion of proposals.
The two presidential candidates who will face each other in the October 31s runoff, Dilma Rousseff (PT) and José Serra (PSDB) have spent the last two weeks courting Marina Silva and her Green Party (PV) after they got 19% of the votes in the first round voting on October 3 (a surprise result that is considered the main reason for the runoff).
Dilma and Serra both announced they will respect Marina’s decision no to endorse any of the candidates.
During a conversation with reporters, Dilma said she hoped the case of pamphlets signed by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference (CNBB) calling on people to vote against her because she is supposedly in favor of abortion would be investigated.
“I don’t know if it was the CNBB that produced the pamphlets. I am not the sort of person to make wild accusations. This is under investigation and it needs to be investigated,” she declared.
Meanwhile, Serra told reporters that he continues to be in favor of same-sex unions. “This is a contract between two people that does not involve the state. It is not the same as a marriage that involves a church [and the government]. Courts in Brazil already recognize same-sex unions as a valid contract between two people,” he declared.
Dilma Ahead
Rousseff, continues to lead in the latest Datafolha poll. Released on Friday, October 15, the poll has Dilma with 47% and Serra with 41%. In a previous poll, on October 10, Dilma had 48% and Serra 41% – the variation of one percentage point is within the poll’s margin of error and is not considered significant.
Null and blank votes totaled 4%, while 8% of those interviewed said they were undecided.
When only the valid votes are counted, Dilma has 54% and Serra 46%. Those numbers were the same on October 10.
The poll was sponsored by the TV Rede Global and the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo and interviewed 3,281 people in 202 municipalities between October 14 and 15.
