Brazil's ruling party candidate, Dilma Rousseff, remained in a technical tie in October's presidential race with the opposition's Jose Serra, an opinion poll showed on Saturday. The Datafolha poll showed Rousseff, a career civil servant, with 36 percent of voter intention against 37 percent for former Sao Paulo state Governor Serra. The results contrast with a Vox Populi poll on Friday that showed Rousseff with a lead of 8 percentage points over Serra, according to Reuters. Some analysts said the difference may be due to diverging polling samples. A Datafolha poll earlier in July showed Serra with 39 percent, two percentage points ahead of Rousseff. Former Environment Minister Marina Silva of the Green Party climbed to 10 percent from 9 percent in the Datafolha poll. With only two and a half months left to the Oct. 3 election, investors have been closely watching to see whether either candidate can pull ahead. Rousseff and Serra have been in a virtual tie for the last three months, with poll results fluctuating in response to their campaign advertisement on TV. -- SPA
