Brazil will deploy more than 25,000 soldiers for municipal elections on Sunday, Defence Minister Raul Jungmann says, amid a wave of political violence that has left three dead in recent days.
Soldiers will be deployed to 15 of Brazil's 26 states to guard against more violence, after attacks killed two candidates for local office, in Rio de Janeiro and the central state of Goias, and a campaign co-ordinator in the southern state of Parana.
Jungmann attributed the "security crisis in some states" to the country's dire economic situation. Brazil is struggling through a deep recession, with rising unemployment that has left 12 million jobless, according to new statistics released on Friday.
At least 6500 of the soldiers will be deployed in Rio de Janeiro state, with 3000 more on call.
In the city of Rio de Janeiro, armed militias and drug traffickers have for years extorted money to allow politicians to campaign in slum areas under their control.
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A recent count by the O Globo newspaper showed incidents of political violence in at least 12 Brazilian states since November 2015.
South America's largest country holds first-round municipal elections on Sunday. They are the first elections since President Michel Temer of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party took power, after former president Dilma Rousseff was removed from office on August 31.
