Growing focus on ‘Marinaconomics’ as Brazil poll nears
After the tragic death of Eduardo Campos in an airplane crash in early August, Marina Silva, who stepped up from the number two spot to replace him as the Partido Socialista Brasileiro (PSB)’s presidential candidate, has blazed her way up the opinion polls and is a real contender to win the October race. Most analysts believe that the 2014 election has become a two-way affair between Silva and the incumbent, Dilma Rousseff, who is seeking a second term at the head of a sprawling coalition led by the leftist ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT). Brazil’s business community is not hiding its support for Silva. In fact, when Rousseff has done poorly in the opinion polls, the stock exchange has rallied, raising an interesting paradox of an anti-establishment politician who has become the darling of Brazilian business.