Dilma Rousseff of the Workers' Party in Brazil will be the national candiate for the presidency. She is expected to win the poll and become the next leader of this Latin American state.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Rousseff falls short of outright win in Brazil election
Brazil's presidential election will go to a second round after Dilma Rousseff failed to win an outright victory in Sunday's voting.
With 98% of votes counted, President Lula's former cabinet chief has 47% with Jose Serra trailing on 33%.
The two will contest a run-off vote in four weeks' time.
A strong showing by the Green Party candidate, Marina Silva, who polled 19%, may have cost Ms Rousseff a first-round win.
"We can confirm there will be a second round in the presidential elections," Ricardo Lewandowski, the president of the High Electoral Tribunal, told reporters in Brasilia late on Sunday.
Workers Party candidate Dilma Rousseff is the favoured successor to President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, who has completed two terms, and cannot run for a third.
Until just a few days ago, a second round had seemed unlikely. But Dilma Rousseff lost support late in the campaign.
The votes of the third-placed candidate will be crucial in deciding the outcome.
Marina Silva of the Green Party, a devout Christian, enjoyed a late surge in support - some of which appears to have come from evangelical Christians who turned away from Dilma Rousseff amid concerns about her stance on abortion.
Addressing supporters, Ms Rousseff said she welcomed the opportunity to explain her policies in more detail.
Analysts say Ms Rousseff ran a careful campaign, benefiting from Mr Lula's widespread popularity and the country's booming economy.
She was a frontrunner for much of the campaign.
Centre-left candidate Jose Serra, the Social Democratic former governor of Sao Paulo state, had seen a boost in his support after corruption allegations surfaced involving a former aide of Ms Rousseff.
Brazil, one of the world's most populous democracies, was also choosing local and national representatives.
Experience
Maria Silveira, a Rousseff voter in Mr Lula's constituency, Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo, told the Associated Press news agency: "It only makes sense to vote for the candidate who I know will continue what he started."
But AP quoted 22-year-old student Iracy Silva as saying: "I voted for Serra because he has much more experience than the other candidates."
Voting is compulsory in Brazil, with results coming quickly, thanks to Brazil's electronic voting system.
Ms Rousseff, 62, served as Mr Lula's chief of staff from 2005 until this year, and is a career civil servant. Her tilt at the presidency is her first attempt at elected office.
During the 1960s and 1970s she was involved in the armed struggle against Brazil's military rulers, and was jailed for three years.
The 68-year-old Mr Serra is hugely experienced, having served as Sao Paulo mayor, Sao Paulo state governor and health minister under President Fernando Henrique Cardoso Mr Lula's predecessor. He lost the presidential election in a run-off to Mr Lula in 2002.
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