Brazil goes to runoff after Rousseff falls short

Ruling-party candidate Dilma Rousseff fell short of getting a majority of votes in presidential elections and now faces a runoff in four weeks.

SAO PAULO // Ruling-party candidate Dilma Rousseff, who is trying to become Brazil’s first female leader, fell short of getting a majority of votes in presidential elections and now faces a runoff in four weeks against an experienced, centrist rival.

Ms Rousseff – popular president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s hand-chosen successor – outpaced rival Jose Serra 46.9 per cent to 32.6 per cent in yesterday’s vote, but did not get the 50 per cent she needed to win outright. Analysts were split on whether there was enough campaign time left for the underdog opposition candidate to close the gap.

Much depends on the other female candidate, the Green Party’s Marina Silva, who won a surprising 19.4 per cent of the vote. She said her party’s leadership would decide whether to throw their support behind Ms Rousseff or Mr Serra, though she emphasised it was up to individual voters to make their own choices.

Ms Rousseff, a former Marxist militant who was imprisoned for three years and tortured under Brazil’s military dictatorship, long ago left behind her rebel background and has made a career as a pragmatic bureaucrat, most recently serving as Ms Silva’s chief of staff.

Much of Brazil’s electorate barely knew who Ms Rousseff was just a few months ago, but her popularity skyrocketed after it became clear she was Mr Silva’s candidate when campaigning began in July. The president enjoys approval ratings that hover near 80 per cent and he has transferred much of that popularity to Ms Rousseff.

Mr Silva, who is legally barred from seeking a third term, was also forced into second-round votes in his 2002 and 2006 presidential victories, a fact Ms Rousseff alluded to following yesterday’s election.

“We are used to challenges. Traditionally, we have fared well in the second round,” Ms Rousseff told supporters in Brasilia. “I’m confident that the second round will provide an important process of elucidation, of dialogue with the representatives of society.”