Brazil candidate death changes dynamics of race

Nation in shock after plane crash kills Socialist presidential hopeful Campos

Brazil's presidential race is in stunned disarray after one of the top three contenders was killed on the campaign trail when a small plane carrying him and aides crashed into a residential area in the port city of Santos.

Socialist politician Eduardo Campos, 49, and the six other people aboard the aircraft died in the accident on Wednesday, which came less than two months ahead of the Oct 4 presidential election.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who opinion polls say leads the race, declared three days of official mourning for Campos and said she was suspending her campaign during that time. The other main candidate, Aecio Neves, also said he was putting his campaign on hold.

"Brazil is in mourning and reeling from a death that took the life of a promising young politician," Rousseff said in a solemn address. She said Campos had had "an extremely promising future ahead".

Political repercussions

The accident sent shock waves through Brazil's political class and had pundits speculating about how it might affect the election.

Campos' running mate, former Environment Minister Marina Silva, is widely seen as one of Brazil's most popular politicians and a potential political threat to Rousseff. Brazilian law gives parties 10 days to choose a substitute in the case of a candidate's death, and it was thought likely that the Brazilian Socialist Party would choose Silva to step in for Campos.

Silva herself didn't give any hints about her political future. In a brief statement to reporters in Santos, a shaken Silva spoke solely about Campos and her relationship with him. Silva, who got 20 percent of the vote in the 2010 presidential election, joined Campos' ticket last October after she was unable to set up her own party in time to run again for president.

David Fleischer, a political scientist at the University of Brasilia, said Campos' death was "bad news for Brazil and very bad news for Dilma".

Should Silva become the Socialists' candidate, she would likely pull votes away from Rousseff, forcing the race into a second round between the president and the No 2 candidate, Neves, of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, Fleischer said. Silva's support of Neves in a runoff could threaten Rousseff's chances of re-election, he said.

(China Daily 08/15/2014 page12)