Brazil heads back to polls to elect president and 14 governors

This Sunday (Oct 26), when the election runoff is held,  142,822,046 Brazilians are eligible to vote, of whom 52.13% are women and 47,78% men, reports the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). They are going to decide whether Aécio Neves (of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party PSDB) or Dilma Rousseff (of the Workers' Party, PT) will be Brazil's next president—the winners of a first round which saw the participation of 11 presidential candidates.

In the first stage, on October 5, the presidential wannabe from the coalition “With the Power of the People”, incumbent Dilma Rousseff, garnered  43,267,668 votes (41,59%), and that of the coalition “Change, Brazil”, Aécio Neves, received  34.897.211 ballots (33.55%). The challenger who gets more than half of the valid votes in the dispute will be sworn in on January 1, 2015, marking the beginning of a four-year tenure.

Apart from voting for one of the presidential candidates, voters from 13 states and the Federal District are also choosing their state governors. This comes as a result of the gubernatorial candidates' failing to get at least 50% of valid ballots on October 5 in these 14 units of the federation.

Of the total number of electors, 354 thousand Brazilians are eligible to vote for president from outside the country, in 135 cities scattered through 89 countries. The largest electorate is found in the US—112.2 thousand people—, followed by Japan, with 30.6 thousand votes, and Portugal (30.4 thousand). In countries with fewer than 30 voters, no election will be held.

Over 21 million electors are expected to vote through the biometric system, which answers to 15.18% of the national electorate, in 764 cities. The election is held in the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities.