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Municipal elections begin in Brazil
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-06 10:51

BRASILIA -- Municipal elections began on Sunday in Brazil at 8 am local time (1100 GMT) when the voting boxes were opened, the Brazilian Electoral Superior Tribunal (TSE) said.

About 129 million Brazilian electors will chose mayors and 52,137 councilors at the 5,563 municipalities of the country, TSE told the local press.

Since early Sunday morning voters started lining up at the polling stations, most of which were located at school.

The TSE said that each voter will have some 40 seconds to vote at the electronic boxes and that the results would be given at 5 p.m. local time (2100 GMT).

Some 380,000 candidates, mainly from the four main traditional parties, contended for the positions in the elections.

They are the ruling Party of the Democratic Movement (PMDB) and its partner, the Party of the Workers (PT), and two opposition parties, the  Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) and the rightist Democrat Party (DEM).