President of Brazil narrowly wins re-election in runoff vote

(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff defeated a pro-business opponent to be re-elected in Sunday's runoff election, after having previously won a plurality in the first round of the election earlier this month. Reports AP:

Rousseff took 51.6 percent of the votes and center-right challenger Aécio Neves had 48.4 percent, with almost all ballots counted. The result reflected a nation deeply divided after what many called the most acrimonious campaign since the return to democracy, with charges of corruption, nepotism, and ample personal barbs thrown by both sides.The re-elected leader faces an immense challenge of reigniting a stalled economy, improving woeful public services that ignited huge anti-government protests last year, and trying to push political reforms through a highly fragmented congress where the governing coalition has less support than it did four years ago. [AP]

In her victory speech tonight, Rousseff said that she "thanks from the bottom of my heart, our number-one militant, President Lula."