(BRASÍLIA) – Just a week ago, Marina Silva was the vice-presidential hopeful running alongside Eduardo Campos, the presidential candidate for Brazil’s Socialist Party who tragically died last week in a plane crash.
Silva has now taken his place as the party’s candidate for president.
Though President Dilma Rousseff continues to dominate in the polls, Silva is already getting over 20% of the vote in some opinion polls.
The polls also suggest that the 56-year-old former environment minister could draw support from the undecided voters as well as minor-party candidates.
As a founding member of the Workers’ Party, Silva appeals to many of the same voters as Rousseff and could possibly become the current president’s main challenger in October’s election.