Party Switch and Presidential Bid
On August 19, 2009, Silva announced her switch from the Workers' Party to the Green Party, primarily in protest against the environmental policies endorsed by the PT. Confirming the expectations, Marina Silva launched her candidacy to the 2010 election under the Green Party ticket on May 16, 2010 in the city of Nova Iguaçu, state of Rio de Janeiro. Silva said she wanted to be "the first African-Brazilian woman of poor origin" to become president of Brazil.
She has also become a Pentecostal Christian in the Assemblies of God, the second largest Christian denomination in Brazil after the declining but still mainstream Roman Catholic church. Nevertheless, during her election campaign, she was criticized by one of the main leaders of the Brazilian Assemblies of God, Pastor Silas Malafaia, after having proposed a referendum on abortion and decriminalization of marijuana. According to Malafaia, Marina Silva should be "more courageous and consistent" in defense of their religious convictions. Silva is against abortion and same-sex marriage.
In her campaign, Silva defended the "exercise of citizen-based political principles and values", "education for the knowledge society", "economy applied to a sustainable society", "social protection, health, welfare and 3rd generation of social programs", "quality of life and safety for all Brazilians", and "strengthening of culture and diversity".
With her speech against the endemic corruption in Brazil (see A Privataria Tucana and Mensalão scandal), and in favor of an "ecologically sustainable development," Silva managed to attract the middle class sectors disillusioned with the government of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso's party and dissatisfied with the compensatory social policies of Lula da Silva's administration. As a result, she became an alternative to the conservative forces in Brazil, when it became clear that José Serra will not win the elections against the government candidate, Dilma Rousseff.
Marina Silva received a strong support of the high educational level and young population. She run by a small party, so she had about 1/20 of the TV time, comparing with the other two biggest party coalitions. Opinion polls notwithstanding, she received 19.4% of the votes cast. This number far exceeded earlier estimates (more than double), but not enough to join the runoff against Dilma Rousseff or José Serra.
Read more about this topic: Marina Silva
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