BRAZIL GOES TO the polls today to choose a new president to succeed the popular Lula Inacio Da Silva.

Lula nominated his former chief of staff Dilma Rousseff as the Worker’s Party candidate, and opinion polls show Rousseff to be in the lead. A second round runoff may be required for Rousseff to dispatch her nearest challenger Jose Serra .

Rousseff, daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant, has never been elected to political office before. Polls opened three hours ago as Brazilians choose 621 new officials as well as their new President.

Among those hoping to be elected is Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva- more widely known by his clown name Tiririca. Tiririca has surged ahead in polls in Sao Paulo state, under the slogan “it can’t get any worse.”

Running as a candidate of the Party of the Republic, Tiririca has already made some choice comments during interviews, including:

“What does a federal representative do? Actually, I don’t know, but vote for me and I’ll find out.”

It’s not all witty remarks though. A magazine article alleged that Tiririca is illiterate- with the Brazilian constitution banning illiterate candidates from election.

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