Dilma Rousseff celebrated victory yesterday after she was elected Brazil’s first female president and vowed to uphold the legacy of her predecessor and mentor, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Rousseff, who served as Lula’s Cabinet chief before he handpicked her to succeed him in the runoff, choked up as she expressed her gratitude in a victory speech in Brasilia.
“The happiness I feel today for my win is mixed with sadness for his departure,” she said on Sunday. “The task of succeeding him is difficult and challenging, but I know I will honor this legacy and extend his work.”
“I will knock on his door often, and I know it will always be open,” she said.
Rousseff pledged to eradicate poverty at home, and lambasted the world’s leading economies for devaluing their monies in a “currency war” that was threatening the exports of Brazil and other countries.
CAREER BUREAUCRAT
A 62-year-old economist by training and a career bureaucrat, Rousseff was virtually unknown to Brazilians before Lula thrust her into the spotlight alongside him this year.
Thanks to his support, she quickly became the favorite in the race that pitted her against -opposition rival Jose Serra, former state governor of Sao Paulo.
Although Lula’s project to have her elected tottered in the Oct. 3 first round, when she failed to win the expected majority needed to avert Sunday’s runoff, it got back on track for the runoff.
Rousseff picked up 56 percent of the vote to Serra’s 44 percent, according to an official tally of all ballots by the High Electoral Tribunal.
She will take charge of Latin America’s biggest economy on Jan. 1, when Lula, 65, is required to step down, having completed the maximum two consecutive terms permitted by law.
Lula has not said what he plans to do. He is retiring with a popularity rating above 80 percent and a high global profile.
SPECULATION
Speculation is swirling that he might accept an international post, or stand by as an informal advisor to Rousseff as she runs the country, though he has downplayed those scenarios.
“There is no possibility of an ex-president participating in a government,” Lula said when he voted on Sao Paulo’s outskirts, where he started out as a factory metalworker and union leader.
Rousseff will have “to form a government in her image. I only hope that she does more than I did,” he said.
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