Cardoso received 45 percent of the vote Monday, more than half the valid ballots needed to lock up the presidency, a Gallup poll showed.
Socialist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva trailed with 25 percent, while six other candidates polled a combined 17 percent. The poll, commissioned by the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper, showed 12 percent of the electorate cast blank or null ballots. Three other exit polls reported similar results.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal was to announce the first partial tally at midday Tuesday. Final results could take two weeks. If no candidate gets a majority, the top two vote-getters would face a runoff on Nov. 15.
Monday's election was the first since Fernando Collor de Mello won Brazil's first free vote in 1989 after decades of military rule. Collor resigned in disgrace in December 1992 following his impeachment for corruption.
Cardoso's meteoric rise to the presidency started in July when an anti-inflation program he orchestrated a year earlier as finance minister cut inflation from 50 percent a month in June to just 1.5 percent last month. The Real Plan, which launched a new currency called the real on July 1 and tied its value to the dollar, restored credit and buying power among the poor masses and kicked off a nationwide spending spree.
In a nation where one-third of the people live in poverty, the plan's success blindsided da Silva, who had been running 24 points ahead of Cardoso in June largely because of voter dissatisfaction with chronic high inflation, corruption and rampant urban crime. Voting was festive and peaceful across the country, though a ban on last-minute campaigning was widely ignored.
Da Silva and Cardoso supporters cruised Brasilia's wide boulevards waving party flags, tossing confetti and singing campaign slogans, stopping to honk horns and play trumpets in front of polling stations.
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