Date: Sunday, 15 Nov 1992 18:58:58 EST
From: <TPOWER@vma.cc.nd.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil
Subject:    Cesar Maia e' direita?

15 de novembro de 1992
        RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (UPI) -- Unofficial results Sunday from mayoral
elections in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo showed victories likely for
the right, dashing Benedita da Silva's hopes of becoming Rio's first-
ever black woman mayor.
        Meanwhile, Brazilian federal police brought new charges of
misappropriation of funds against Rosane Malta Collor de Mello, wife of
impeached president Fernando Collor de Mello, local media said.
        According to information based on exit polls carried out by the
private Brazilian Statistics and Public Opinion Institute, Da Silva was
trailing rightist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party candidate Cesar
Maia in Rio's mayoral election by 40 percent to 43 percent.
        While the projected winning margin is inside the margin of error,
institute director Carlos Monteiro said the results could be considered
certain.
        Official returns from the Rio vote will be announced at midday on
Monday.
        The expected high percentage of blank and null voting papers was
confirmed by the poll which calculated it at 17 percent.
        Da Silva, 50, stood for the Workers Party and was backed by most of
the city's poor. She was hoping to become the first black woman to be
elected mayor of the world-famous resort.
        The Workers Party candidate was also a loser in Brazil's biggest city
of Sao Paulo, initial poll results said.
        According to the poll, rightist Democratic Socialist Party candidate
Paulo Maluf was an easy winner over Eduardo Suplicy. The poll gave Maluf
53 percent against 35 percent for Suplicy. Fourteen percent of the
ballots were blank or annulled.
        Maluf told reporters he thought he had won but said he wasn't going
to celebrate until the official results were declared.
        The Workers Party, however, appeared to do better in Belo Horizonte,
capital of Minas Gerais state, and Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande
do Sul state, where both its candidates were predicted as winners.
        In Porto Alegre, Tarso Genro was estimated to have obtained 55
percent of the vote as opposed to only 33 percent for his Brazilian
Democracy Movement Party opponent.
        In Belo Horizonte, Patrus Ananias got 50 percent of votes cast, while
his Liberal Party rival polled 33 percent, the survey said.
        Results in other cities, including Manaus and Campo Grande, were
still unknown due to the time difference, which meant the polls were
open longer.
        Twenty-six Brazilian cities were electing mayors Sunday.
        Meanwhile, the nation's former first lady was facing new charges.
        Rosane Malta Collor de Mello, wife of the impeached president, was
accused Saturday of spending public money on a birthday party for her
secretary. The new charges are similar to ones previously filed against
her and could land her 12 years in prison if she is found guilty,
newspapers said.
        The ex-first lady already has been asked to return to the public
coffers the almost $900,000 she spent on a party July 5, 1991.
        Collor's lawyer, Amaury Serralvo, said her client would not make any
statements and only would respond to the accusations in court.
        Her husband, Fernando Collor de Mello, was impeached Oct. 2 and
stripped of his power because of corruption charges. He currently awaits
a Senate vote on his political fate and could face eight years in jail
if convicted.