Polling stations have opened in a general election in which Brazilians are choosing a president, state governors, all members of the lower house of Congress and a third of the Senate.
In the presidential race, President Dilma Rousseff, who is seeking re-election, appeared likely to win the election but to fall short of the 50 per cent of the ballots that would hand her a new term in office in just one round of voting.
Environmental activist Marina Silva and social democrat Aecio Neves are battling it out for second place, which would give them the chance to face off for the presidency with Rousseff in a run-off on October 26.
Polling stations opened at 8am local time on Sunday and were set to close nine hours later.
Exit poll results were expected as soon as the last voting centres close, with the first official results also around that time.
With electronic voting in place, the count is expected to be almost complete within hours of the election.
Around 143 million people are registered to vote in a country of over 200 million.
According to the latest opinion polls, which were published on Thursday, the centre-left Rousseff, 66, of the Workers' Party (PT) is virtually certain to win Sunday's vote, with around 40 per cent of the votes.
Silva, 56, of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), was on 24 per cent but sliding fast, and Neves, 54, of the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB), followed close on her heels, with 19-20 per cent.
Brazilians are to elect the governors of their 26 states and the Brazilian federal district, to fill 513 seats in the lower house of their Congress and to choose one-third of the Senate seats.
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