BRAZIL VOTES – AT 2:18 P.M. ET:  Brazil has one of the fastest-rising economies in the world.  It is the largest country in South America, and votes today.  Americans seem unaware of the election.  From Reuters: 

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilians began voting on Sunday in the most polarized election in decades as anger over corruption and crime were expected to carry Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency, marking a dramatic swing to the right in the world's fourth-largest democracy.

Bolsonaro's sudden rise was propelled by rejection of the leftist Workers Party (PT) that ran Brazil for 13 of the last 15 years and was ousted two years ago in the midst of the country's worst recession and biggest-ever political graft scandal.

His leftist rival Fernando Haddad, standing in for the jailed PT founder and former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been trailing Bolsonaro since the first-round vote three weeks ago.

"I want to take the PT out," said Celina Ceccon, who previously supported Lula and his successor Dilma Rousseff but voted for Bolsonaro in this election

"There was a lot of corruption, bad things, so much stealing. There's got to be a change," said the 74-year-old resident of the capital Brasilia.

The last round of opinion surveys on Saturday showed Haddad narrowing a wide polling gap.

Endorsements from leading legal figures in Brazil's unprecedented fight against political corruption also raised hopes among Haddad's supporters that he can pull off what would be a stunning upset win.

Haddad has reduced Bolsonaro's lead from 12 to 8 percentage points in five days, according to the Ibope polling firm that gave him 46 percent of voter support compared with Bolsonaro's 54 percent.

A Datafolha poll also released late Saturday showed Bolsonaro had 55 percent and Haddad 45 percent. 

COMMENT:  A shift to the right would be dramatic, and could have an influence on South American politics generally.  It would also probably be good for U.S.-Brazilian relations.

October 28, 2018