The two soft-left contenders, Ciro Gomes and Anthony Garotinho, were fading away.

ECONOMIST: Brazil's election

Several other challengers, such as Itamar Franco, Mr Cardoso's quirky predecessor, and Ciro Gomes, a soft-left former state governor, seem to be fading.

ECONOMIST: Politics in Brazil

But the big test will come if the election is won by either of the two left-of-centre candidates, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Ciro Gomes.

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But that result did even greater damage to the presidential hopes of Mrs Gomes's campaign adviser and former husband, Ciro Gomes, who ran against Mr Cardoso in 1998.

ECONOMIST: Brazil

Though support for the front-runner, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the left-wing Workers' Party, has gently declined, that for Ciro Gomes, a renegade from Mr Cardoso's Social Democracy Party, has surged.

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And in the north-eastern city of Fortaleza, defeat for Patricia Gomes, a soft-left challenger, could hurt two potential presidential candidacies, those of Ciro Gomes, her ex-husband and campaign adviser, and of Tasso Jereissati, the governor of Ceara.

ECONOMIST: Brazil

Both must scrap for the votes of two slippery populist candidates, Anthony Garotinho, until recently the governor of Rio de Janeiro, who got 18%, and Ciro Gomes, a former governor of the north-eastern state of Ceara, who got 12%.

ECONOMIST: Brazil's presidential election

Second, from August 18th, Brazil's television stations must carry 50 minutes a day of campaign advertising, which could allow less well-known candidates (such as Ciro Gomes, a maverick former finance minister) to grab enough votes to force a run-off.

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