Brasilia, Oct 8 (IANS/EFE) The Social Democracy Party candidate in the second and final round of the Brazilian presidential elections, Aecio Neves has received the first signs of support from Marina Silva's defeated coalition.
Against the recent developments, incumbent President Dilma Rousseff Tuesday said that "nobody owns the vote".
In the first round of the election, held Sunday, Neves received 33 percent of the votes and was the runner-up to Rousseff who received 42 percent.
Silva, the candidate of the Brazilian Socialist Party and five other political groups, came third with 21 percent or 22 million votes, which now hangs in the balance between Neves and Rousseff as they face off in the second round Oct 26.
Though Silva said in a statement Tuesday that the coalition's decision on its support would be declared Thursday, her party was the first to show its support to Neves.
Neves, who ha\s been trying to woo Silva ever since the results of Sunday's election were declared, responded by saying that his election manifesto had more similarities than differences with that of the former candidate.
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Some of the issues he highlighted are sustained development in the Amazonian region, the proposal to implement full time education and put an end to Rousseff's re-election bid.
On her part, Rousseff declared that any support for her candidacy would be welcomed and that "nobody owns the votes of Brazilian citizens".
"One man, one vote. One woman, one vote. This is the principle of democracy," she said.
--IANS/EFE
ab/vt