The tragic death in a plane crash of Eduardo Campos, the first choice of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), sprang his running-mate to the top of the ticket.
And when the Socialist Party's (PSB) candidate was re-elected on October 7th in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, Aécio Neves a former state governor and the opposition's likely presidential candidate in 2014 stood beaming beside the victor.So what conclusions can be drawn from first-round elections in which 116m Brazilians turned out to vote for 5,568 mayors?
The candidate of the centrist Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) finished a respectable third, with 21%.
There was tragedy, when Eduardo Campos, leader and candidate of the centrist Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), perished in an aeroplane crash in mid-August.
The Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) of Marina Silva, a charismatic centrist who is fighting it out with the PSDB's Aécio Neves for a spot in the second round against Ms Rousseff, will probably take a bigger knock, dropping a fifth of the 35 seats it now controls.
Ms Silva surged in the polls in mid-August, after being catapulted from running-mate to the top of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) ticket following an aeroplane crash that killed the party's leader and candidate, Eduardo Campos.
Ms Silva was propelled to the top of the centrist Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) ticket in the wake of the tragic death in a plane crash two weeks ago of its leader and candidate, Eduardo Campos.
Aécio Neves, a senator from Minas Gerais state and leader of the centre-right Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB), and Eduardo Campos, governor of Pernambuco and head of the centrist Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), have so far notched up many more "likes" than the president (see chart).
In August Marina Silva was propelled from running-mate to the top of the centrist Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) ticket after the death in a plane crash of its leader, Eduardo Campos.
