Bruno Bocchini
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - By a difference of only 279 votes, Rio Grande do Sul state assemblyman and former mayor of Porto Alegre, Raul Pont, won the right to dispute the second round in the Workers' Party's (PT) direct internal elections. The Socialist Democracy faction, which Pont represents, received 43,190 votes, which corresponds to 14.7% of the valid ballots. This tally is only 0.1% higher than that of the third-place finisher, Valter Pomar, who represents the Coordination of the Left faction, which garnered 42,911 votes.

First place went to Ricardo Berzoini, who belongs to the Majority Camp faction, which received 123,537 votes - 42% of the party members who voted. The runoff election is scheduled for October 9.

Translation: David Silberstein