BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- From isolated villages in the Amazon jungle to far-flung settlements in the vast savannas of the interior, Brazil's Indians are venturing as never before into mainstream politics.

Initial results from last month's nationwide local elections show four Indians were chosen as mayors and five as deputy mayors and final results are expected to give Indians more than 100 posts.

The numbers may seem small but they represent a jump from one Indian mayor elected in 2000.

Indian organizations see the results as a critical step to pushing back the centuries of abuse and prejudice they suffered since the Portuguese first landed in Brazil in 1500, bringing enslavement and illnesses that slowly killed Indians off.

The 1988 constitution, which brought democracy after Brazil left behind more than two decades of military rule in 1985, gave Indians the right to vote for the first time in their history.

Although Indian politicians do not yet have one party uniting them, the political aims of their various parties are similar -- to get their lands demarcated, to have health services and education, and to gain full access to all the mineral riches on their lands.

Sebastiao de Souza Konohum, joint coordinator for the defense of indigenous rights at the government's Indian agency, Funai, said the improving results for Indian candidates is largely thanks to better organization.

"We started organizing in 1980 and boosted that work after the 1988 constitution," said Konohum, himself an Indian from Matto Grosso state. "In the future our aim is to create an Indian party to look after our interests."

Konohum expects that more than 100 Indians were elected in these polls to office as mayors and local councilors, up from a total of 89 in the last vote. The full results are not yet ready. Nationwide there are nearly 5,600 municipalities in the country of 180 million.

Indians' best-yet political results came in parallel with a historic rise in their numbers -- the first since constant decline from an estimated six million people when the Portuguese first arrived in Brazil.

The latest census in 2000 put Brazil's Indian population at 734,000, sharply up from 400,000 at the end of the 1980s.

Those numbers in themselves reflect the political ambitions of Indians as many more were willing to define themselves as Indians in the 2000 census, according to a spokeswoman at the Catholic-run Indigenous Missionary Council.

"The burden of prejudice against defining oneself as Indian is changing," she said.

In Brazil race is defined by the individual and not the state.

Agnaldo Xukuru, an Indian elected as councilor last month in the state of Pernambuco, said his election was the result of a prolonged process of improving organization among the Xukuru tribe.

He stood on a ticket for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Workers' Party and was chosen to represent roughly 9,000 Xukuru who are spread out in 24 villages on an Indian reserve.

"The Indian population has advanced, we realize we have to be involved in politics, that we cannot have others fighting for us," said Agnaldo, referring to the dozens of rights' organizations that champion their struggle.

Copyright 2004 Reuters.