STAN LEHMAN
Associated Press

SAO PAULO (AP) — The former environment minister who briefly led Brazil’s presidential race threw added support on Friday to the man who beat her for second place and a spot in a runoff election against President Dilma Rousseff.

Marina Silva, who finished third in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, said she endorsed Aecio Neves partly due to a belief in alternation of power, an apparent reference to the nearly 12 years in power of Rousseff’s Workers Party.

Silva, who on Sunday announced her support for Neves in the Oct. 26 runoff, said Friday that Neves has promised to recover economic stability and to strengthen social policies such as a program that pays mothers a monthly stipend as long as they can prove that they’re keeping their kids in school and giving them health checkups and immunizations.

Silva was a late entry in the race following the death of her Socialist Party’s initial candidate. For a time, she led all contenders in the polls, but finally wound up third in the Oct. 5 vote.

Neves defied expectations by finishing second in the first round, winning 34 percent of the vote to Rousseff’s 42 percent.

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