Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's party on Saturday nominated his chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, to replace him as a candidate for the October 3 presidential elections, dpa reported.
Rousseff, 62, was picked as the presidential candidate of Lula's Workers' Party (PT). The popular outgoing president said Friday that he expects her to seek re-election in 2014.
Economist Rousseff "has to create her style ... and I, like a fan in the stands, will have to cheer for her achievements and root for her to be successful and do what is best," Lula said in an interview published Friday in the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo.
According to opinion polls, Rousseff currently stands second in the race for the presidency, although she appears to be catching up to Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra.
A poll released Thursday by the private Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics (IBOPE) estimated that Serra would get 36 per cent of the votes to Rousseff's 25 per cent if the election were to be held now.