More than eighty percent of Brazil’s 142.5 million registered voters are expected to return to the polls this Sunday, October 26^th, for the second and final round of a hard fought  and largely negative presidential campaign marked by tragedy, a slowing economy, dramatic swings in voter attitudes, and a major corruption scandal involving state oil company Petrobras.

After a fourth and final nationally televised debate on Friday the 17^th between President Dilma Rousseff, of the Workers' Party (PT), and Senator Aécio Neves, of the Social Democratic Party (PSDB), voters will decide to either extend the twelve-year rule of the PT or turn the country in a new direction. Although a Datafolha poll released on Monday, October 20^th saw Rousseff ahead for the first time in second-round polling, with 52% of the valid votes against 48% for Neves, polls were notoriously off the mark in the run-up to the October 5th first round of voting, making the election hard to predict.

On Monday, October 27^th, the Brazil Institute will convene a panel to discuss the results of the final round elections and their implications.

Original photos courtesy of Flickr users Aécio Neves Presidente and Airton Morassi. Photo editing done by Layne Vandenberg.