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"José Serra, the former governor of São Paulo and current candidate for the Brazilian presidency, can probably empathise with his disgraced national football team. Like them, he has watched a steady advantage against a far weaker opponent gradually dissipate and then suffered a virtual implosion in his own campaign. Unless he can turn this around quickly he could even suffer a humiliating exit at the first round of voting in October. Brazilian politics are difficult for non-Brazilians to follow, and foreign observers often reduce the political arena to a simple left-right divide. In reality, though, it would be difficult to squeeze a credit card between the politics of Serra and his opponent, Dilma Rousseff, and one of the frustrations for many Brazilians is how little choice they are being offered by the two main blocks. Despite some of Brazil's recent social and economic improvements, it remains one of the most corrupt, violent, bureaucratic and unequal countries on earth, yet neither candidate seems to be offering anything other than a continuation of the status quo."
