Rousseff, Neves tied in surveys ahead of Brazil's presidential runoff

Rio de Janeiro, Oct 16 (IANS/EFE) Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her Social Democrat contender Aecio Neves, who will compete for the presidency in a second round of elections Oct 26, were technically tied in two new polls of voting intentions.

Ibope and Datafolha, two of the most prestigious polling firms in Brazil, announced results which were not very different from surveys last week, in which Neves outperformed Rousseff by merely two percent, within the margin of error.

According to Datafolha, the Social Democrat senator remains in first place with 51 percent of valid votes and only two points ahead of Rousseff, with 49 percent, but since the margin of error of the poll is two percentage points both are technically tied.

Datafolha interviewed 9,081 voters in 366 municipalties between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ibope, which surveyed 3,010 voters in 204 municipalities between Sunday and Tuesday, also registered a technical tie, with 51 percent for Neves and 49 percent for Rousseff.

The two polling firms said the result of the second round remains undefined.