Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff has won a second term, defeating her opposition rival Aecio Neves with a narrow margin in an election. She won 51.6% of the valid votes cast to secure a much reduced mandate, having fought off a strong challenge by the pro-business Aécio Neves, who attracted 48.4%. Rousseff ensured that Latin America’s biggest nation will remain under the control of a Workers party (PT), which is committed to tackle inequality.
Dilma Roussef
Dilma Vana Rousseff is the 36th and current President of Brazil. She is the first woman to hold the office. She was previously the Chief of Staff of the PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva from 2005 to 2010.
She became a socialist during her youth, and following the 1964 coup d’état joined various left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups that fought against the military dictatorship. Rousseff was eventually captured and jailed between 1970 and 1972, where she was reportedly tortured.
Rousseff was ranked fourth in Forbes’ 2014 list of the most powerful women in the world.
