Brazilian presidential candidate
Eduardo Campos was killed in a plane crash on Wednesday (August 13, 1914).
Campos' jet crashed in bad weather as it
prepared to land in the coastal city of Santos, in the south of Sao Paulo,
killing all seven people on board, the São Paulo state fire department said.
Campos, 49, was in third place in recent polls with the support of about
10 percent of voters.
President Dilma Rousseff, who is leading the race, suspended
all campaigning for three days in mourning. Senator Aécio Neves, the candidate
running in second place, said he was "immensely saddened."
Dilma is leading in polls with about 36 percent of
voter support. Aécio has enjoyed about 20 percent support and is expected to
face Dilma in a second-round runoff.
Campos, a former governor of the northeastern state of
Pernambuco, was running as a business-friendly leftist and had strong support
from many banks and industrial groups. His death could see Marina Silva, his
running mate, become the Brazilian Socialist Party's candidate.
Marina Silva was not aboard the plane that crashed. She placed a strong
third in the 2010 presidential election and enjoys robust support from young
voters and evangelical voters but her pro-environment agenda means that many in
Brazil's powerful agribusiness sector distrust her.
On the night before his death, Campos was in Rio de
Janeiro for an interview with the country's most-watched nightly news program.
Several pundits praised his performance as confident and authoritative and said
he might rise in polls as a result.
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