Brasilian Presidential candidate killed in plane crash

[Statistikhengst]

Brazil's Presidential Race Stunned By The Death Of Candidate Eduardo 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 this port city.

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

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."...

Investigation underway:

...The candidate, four members of his campaign staff and two pilots were traveling from Rio de Janeiro to the city of Guaruja when the Cessna 560XL went down in nearby Santos around 10 a.m.

Aeronautical officials said the plane was trying to land in bad weather, although the Globo television network broadcast interviews with witnesses who said the aircraft was in flames before it crashed among apartment buildings. An investigation has been opened to determine the exact cause, Brazil's aeronautical agency said.

Television stations broadcast images of the crash site on a continuous loop, showing a smoldering pit littered with debris and what appeared to be plane parts and emergency workers picking through the wreckage.

Daniel Onias, a civil defense officer on the scene, said the victims' bodies were "disintegrated." Five people on the ground at the time of the crash were slightly injured, he said.

Brazilian general election, 2014 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Brasilian presidential election is scheduled for 05 October 2014. There is 50% hurdle to get over, otherwise, there will be a run-off election.

Officially, there were 11 candidates, now, 10. Polling was taken generally only for the top five and the incumbent, a woman named Dilma Rousseff, was polling around 40% on the average.

Voting and voter turnout in 2010, Brasil:


Brazilian presidential election, 2010 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


In 2010, there were 135,804,433 eligible voters (around that time, in the USA, there were 171 million registered voters, but around 225 million eligible). It came to a run-off election. In the first election, 99,463,917 (and about 5 million null votes, making around 104,400,000 votes total) were cast. In the runoff election, 106,606,214 valid votes were cast, a voter turnout rate of 78.50%, a VT rate we can only dream of. So, in 2010, in the second election, more votes were cast in Brasil than in the 2000 US Presidential election Bush-vs-Gore.

I am writing this to remind that Brasil is actually quite a large country, with a population of just under 2/3 of that of the USA:

Brazil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia