Brazil's election too close to call on eve of runoff

By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff is heading into Sunday's presidential runoff vote with a slight lead in most polls over opposition candidate Aecio Neves, setting the stage for Brazil's tightest election in decades. A survey released on Saturday by polling firm Ibope gave Rousseff a 6-percentage point lead over Neves, while a closely-watched poll by Datafolha showed the incumbent ahead by 4 points, within the survey's margin of error. Earlier in the day, however, a survey by smaller polling firm MDA showed Neves with a razor-thin lead of less than 1 percentage point, a dead heat given the poll's margin of error. Sunday's election pits a pro-business senator who is promising to revive a stagnant economy against a Workers' Party president who vows to expand popular social programs that have lifted millions from poverty. Rousseff has 53 percent of the valid votes against 47 percent for Neves, Ibope said, a narrower lead than in its previous poll on Thursday, which showed the incumbent with 54 percent and the challenger with 46 percent. Datafolha also showed Rousseff's lead has narrowed, giving her 52 percent of valid votes versus 48 percent for Neves. That compares with 53 percent for the president and 47 percent for Neves on Thursday. Both polls have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The new polls were partly conducted after the final television debate on Friday night in which Neves accused Rousseff of running a corrupt government that should be voted out of office. The earlier MDA poll showed Neves running neck and neck with Rousseff. Neves had 50.3 percent of the valid votes against 49.7 percent for Rousseff in that poll, which had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points in either direction. In a last attempt to sway some 10 percent of undecided voters, the candidates traded accusations over political corruption on Friday night in the final television debate. Rousseff and Neves sparred over who was best suited to restore growth to Latin America's largest economy, fight high inflation, bring down rents and deal with open sewers in Brazilian cities. The campaign has been overshadowed by a bribery scandal at Brazil's largest enterprise, state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, which has given Neves ammunition to try to convince Brazilians to end 12 years of Workers' Party rule. Weekly news magazine Veja reported on Friday that a jailed black market money dealer called Alberto Youssef had told police and prosecutors that Rousseff and her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, knew about the corruption scheme that allegedly funneled cash to the Workers' Party and its coalition allies. In Friday night's debate, Neves took Rousseff to task over the accusations, which she vehemently denied as part of a smear campaign against her candidacy. Brazil's Superior Electoral Court denied a Workers' Party request to ban circulation of the magazine but ordered its publishers not to publicize the cover of this week's edition to avoid influencing votes. Datafolha interviewed 19,318 voters and Ibope surveyed 3,010 respondents on Friday and Saturday. MDA surveyed 2,002 voters on Thursday and Friday. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Todd Benson and Lisa Von Ahn)