By Ben Tavener
SAO PAULO
A rash of polls released Saturday ahead of the presidential election has predicted a comfortable win for incumbent President Dilma Rousseff in Sunday's first-round vote, but not by enough to avoid a runoff.
The polls predicted the Workers' Party candidate would also win the second round, but suggested it would now be fought against center-right Social Democracy Party candidate Aécio Neves, who has pulled ahead of former environment minister Marina Silva for the first time since she entered the race in August.
Silva stepped up as a presidential candidate for the Brazilian Socialist Party after running mate Eduardo Campos was killed in a plane crash Aug. 13.
The race for second place narrowed significantly in recent days and despite the former governor of Minas Gerais now being numerically in front of Silva, the pair still remain technically tied for second within the polls' margins of error.
The biggest of Saturday's poll, conducted by Datafolha and which surveyed 18,116 voters in 468 municipalities Friday and Saturday, said Rousseff would get 40 percent of the vote, with Neves at 24 percent and Silva 22 percent.
With only valid votes considered, Rousseff's share is 44 percent, Neves 26 percent, and Silva 24 percent.
The Datafolha poll says Rousseff would beat Neves or Silva in a second-round vote, by eight and six points respectively.
The survey also found 4 percent of respondents remained undecided, and that a another four percent would either spoil their ballot or not vote.
The other two smaller polls released Saturday - by Ibope and MDA/CNT - also indicates Rousseff would win after a second-round vote, and that Neves had numerically leapfrogged Silva.
Silva's performance in the polls has declined significantly in the last two weeks, after initially skyrocketing to such an extent that she posed a credible threat to Rousseff's re-election.
Political experts told The Anadolu Agency on Friday that a lack of exposure on national TV and radio political broadcasts, coupled with a failure to fully explain economic proposals, have contributed to the slump in voter intentions.
Saturday's polls will also have been influenced to some extent by Thursday's final televised debate between seven of the candidates in which Neves gave a strong performance but a visibly-fatigued Silva lacked confidence and coherent answers.
Nearly 143 million Brazilian are eligible to vote in the presidential election, which will go to a Oct. 26 second-round between the top two vote-getters if none of the candidates receives more than 50 percent Sunday. The vote is compulsory for those between 18 and 70 years of age, and optional for 16- and 17-year-olds and those older than 70.
Voters will also be electing deputies, senators, governors and state-level legislators as part of general elections. Results are expectedly shortly after polls close Sunday at 5 p.m. Brasília time (2000 GMT).
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