Rousseff elected Brazil's first female president - 2nd Update

Sun, 31 Oct 2010

Rio de Janeiro - Ruling-party candidate Dilma Rousseff won Sunday's presidential runoff in Brazil and is to become the country's first-ever female president, according to official results.

With close to 95 per cent of the votes counted, Rousseff had over 55 per cent of the valid ballots, compared to 44 per cent of her rival, social democrat Jose Serra.

Her election means a continuation of the policies of popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who nominated his one-time chief of staff as the candidate of his Workers' Party (PT).

Earlier, an exit poll made by the private Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics (IBOPE) estimated that Rousseff would get 58 per cent of the valid votes to Serra's 42 per cent.

If the results are eventually confirmed, Rousseff, 62, would be inaugurated on January 1 with a four year mandate.

Rousseff already comfortably won the first round of the presidential election on October 3 with 47 per cent of the votes, but fell short of the more-than-half of all votes requirement to avoid a runoff.

An economist by training, she once also trained as a guerrilla fighter during Brazil's military dictatorship, and later made her mark as Brazil's energy minister and government chief of staff under Lula.

The hugely popular Lula, 65, is barred from serving more than two consecutive terms. He however pulled his weight behind Rousseff, who has vowed to build on her mentor's legacy.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351263,president-2nd-update.html.