SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Brazilians like to boast about two electoral advances that even the world's most famous democracy, the United States, cannot claim.

One is nationwide electronic voting, a system that probably would have prevented the seven week-long vote recount that was needed to determine George W. Bush had won the U.S. presidency in 2000.

The other is free television time for election candidates, rich or poor, Reuters reported.

The "Horario Gratuito" -- as the campaign TV time is known in Portuguese -- starts on August 20 for the October 6 presidential vote, and promises to shake up an already turbulent race.

The TV time can reach 90 percent of Brazilian homes. Of the 115 million registered voters, all of whom are required to vote, 45 percent do not know who they want for president.

"The Horario Gratuito is a wonderful institution," said Luiz Carlos Bresser Pereira, former minister and ideologue for the governing Social Democratic Party.

And it may prove to be the savior for the presidential candidate from his party, Jose Serra. He is running third in the polls with 13 percent of the vote but has around 40 percent of the presidential TV time because of a Social Democratic Party alliance with the largest party, the Brazil Democratic Movement Party.

TV time is distributed among candidates according to the parties' representation in Congress.

Starting on August 20 the rather Sombre Serra, a former health minister, will hit the screens for 10 minutes in the afternoon and 10 minutes at night three times a week.

Front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the leftist opposition Workers Party will have a total of 10 minutes total a day, and second-placed center-leftist Ciro Gomes will have eight minutes thanks to a three-party alliance.

Fourth-placed Anthony Garotinho, a left-leaning populist, has four minutes.

--- From Soaps to Political Hopes --- "We have a huge amount of media space for elections, like no other country," said Marcus Figueiredo, political science professor at Rio de Janeiro's University Institute of Research. "If you compare the TV time in U.S. and French presidential elections, it is far below what we have in Brazil."

According to his calculations, the presidential candidates will be on TV twice as much as large corporate advertisers.

TV time for elections in 27 state governorships, the Federal Congress and state assemblies adds up to a whole lot of political noise until the second round of voting on October 27.

A bunch of guys in suits appealing for votes may not make for interesting viewing, especially compared with Brazil's sleek and often steamy soap operas that run before the night-time propaganda.

But Figueiredo says the more competitive the race, the more people want to see the free TV time. In the 1989 run-off vote, between Lula and the eventual winner Fernando Collor de Mello, up to 65 percent of Brazilians tuned into the Horario Gratuito, the same level registered for Brazil's World Cup soccer games.

In 1994 and 1998 elections, when Fernando Henrique Cardoso won in the first round with more than 50 percent of vote, the audience dropped to between 45 and 55 percent.

"We expect a bigger audience than the previous election because it will be more competitive," said Figueiredo.

Those who tune in might get to see a bit of mudslinging.

"There could be a lot of accusations and personal attacks, with documents and dossiers that the teams are preparing," said Vera Chaia, a political science professor who specializes in media at the Catholic University in Sao Paulo.

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