Brazil's Rousseff tied with rival in likely runoff: Poll

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is leading in the first round of the presidential election, but would be in a tight race with her closest rival Marina Silva in the decisive runoff, showed a poll released Friday.

Rousseff, seeking re-election as the candidate of the Workers' Party (PT), garnered 39 percent vote, followed by her main rival, Silva, of Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), with 31 percent, according to the survey by polling firm Ibope, commissioned by the National Industry Confederation, Xinhua reported.

Since neither of the top two candidates is likely to secure more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round, the elections are headed for a runoff in which Silva would get 43 percent support to 42 percent for Rousseff, the poll said, indicating the two would be locked in a technical tie in the final lap of the race.

The government's approval rating is 38 percent, with those who graded its performance as just 'so-so' representing 33 percent of voters, and those who gave it poor marks accounting for 28 percent.

The poll interviewed 2,002 people in 144 cities around the country Sep 5-8. The poll has a two-point margin of error.

As voting in Brazil is compulsory for those 18-70 years of age, 140 million voters are expected at the polls to elect a president, state governors, and legislators for both houses of Congress.

If none of the candidates wins a majority of votes Oct 5, the top two contenders will face each other Oct 26.