Marina Silva confident she'll make it to run-offs

The candidate running for Brazil's presidency under the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), Marina Silva, voted in Rio Branco, the capital city of her home state of Acre. It took her just over a minute and 30 seconds to complete her vote in the polling booth.

She then sets off to São Paulo along with her campaign staff to monitor the count.

Upon her arrival in Rio Branco on Saturday evening (Oct 4), she told reporters she is confident that she will make it to the run-offs, despite voting intention polls released that same day showing a narrowing gap between Silva and the third-ranking candidate, Aécio Neves (PSDB)

“The true poll will be on Sunday, as the efforts made so far for a snapshot of voting intentions capture the intentions in people's hearts, the hearts of all Brazilians who want to see this country united around the things that really matter – health, quality education, public security, zeal for public money, protecting our economy so that our country can grow and create jobs,” she said.

In Acre, one of Brazil's Amazon states, 506,724 people are eligible to vote. The state has 101 polling stations in far-off locations, 77 of which will broadcast their results to the Electoral Court computers back in Brasília via satellite. They are located in indigenous villages, riverside communities, forest reserves and rubber plantations, most of them located in the valley of River Juruá. Some 42 locations can only be accessed by helicopters. Others are accessible by boat and off-road 4WD vehicles.

Translated by Mayra Borges