Zarquon
Nov 1st 2010, 12:12 AM
Dilma Rousseff (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/dilma_rousseff/index.html?inline=nyt-per) was elected the country’s first female president on Sunday, as Brazilians voted strongly in favor of continuing the economic and social policies of the popular president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/luiz_inacio_lula_da_silva/index.html?inline=nyt-per). Ms. Rousseff, who served as Mr. da Silva’s chief of staff and energy minister, joins a growing wave of democratically elected female leaders in the region and the world in the past five years, including Michelle Bachelet (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michelle_bachelet/index.html?inline=nyt-per) in Chile, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/cristina_fernandez_de_kirchner/index.html?inline=nyt-per) in Argentina and Angela Merkel (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/angela_merkel/index.html?inline=nyt-per) in Germany.
Ms. Rousseff, 62, defeated José Serra, the former governor of São Paulo, with 56 percent of the vote to 44 percent, official numbers showed.
In choosing Ms. Rousseff, who has no elected political experience, voters sent a message that they preferred to give the governing Workers Party more time to broaden the successful economic policies of Mr. da Silva, whose government deepened economic stability and lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty and into the lower middle classes.
In her victory speech, Ms. Rousseff pledged to focus on eradicating poverty, which she described as an “abyss that still keeps us from being a developed nation.” She has indicated that she favors giving the state greater control over the economy, especially the oil industry (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/oil-petroleum-and-gasoline/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier), potentially steering the country further to the left.
More on Dilma Rousseff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilma_Rousseff) and the 2010 Brazilian Presidential election (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_presidential_election,_2010) here (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/world/americas/01brazil.html?ref=global-home).
Ms. Rousseff, 62, defeated José Serra, the former governor of São Paulo, with 56 percent of the vote to 44 percent, official numbers showed.
In choosing Ms. Rousseff, who has no elected political experience, voters sent a message that they preferred to give the governing Workers Party more time to broaden the successful economic policies of Mr. da Silva, whose government deepened economic stability and lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty and into the lower middle classes.
In her victory speech, Ms. Rousseff pledged to focus on eradicating poverty, which she described as an “abyss that still keeps us from being a developed nation.” She has indicated that she favors giving the state greater control over the economy, especially the oil industry (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/oil-petroleum-and-gasoline/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier), potentially steering the country further to the left.
More on Dilma Rousseff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilma_Rousseff) and the 2010 Brazilian Presidential election (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_presidential_election,_2010) here (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/world/americas/01brazil.html?ref=global-home).