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Mayors and councils are being elected in Brazil's 5,563 towns and cities.

Pre-vote polls suggest that President Lula's Workers' Party (PT) and its partners will take many of the main urban centres.

The election is also expected to give an indication of who may succeed Mr Lula when he steps down in 2010.

Brazil's constitution limits the president to two consecutive terms in office and the PT has yet to select a candidate for the presidential election in two years' time.

At the moment the likeliest choice would appear to be the powerful figure of Dilma Rousseff, the president's chief of staff, says the BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo.

Heavy security

Half-way through his second-term, President Lula has a level of support running at close to 80% or higher, opinion polls indicate.

His popularity has soared as Brazil has enjoyed a commodities-driven export boom.

Mr Lula's standing is expected to give candidates for the PT and its 13 allied parties a substantial boost.

The PT may enlarge the number of big cities it controls from the current 13 to 35 while the opposition Social Democrats may take 20, estimates quoted by the AFP news agency suggest.

The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) may win control of 17 the 79 big urban centres.

Big wins for the PT in the local elections would give the party an improved base ahead of the presidential vote in 2010, say analysts.

Campaigning for the elections has centred on crime, unemployment, health care and education.

In the city of Rio de Janeiro the issue of violence has loomed large.

More than 5,000 soldiers have joined 27,000 police to ensure that militias and drugs gangs do not influence the vote.

(BBC)

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