- Title: BRAZIL-ELECTION/REAX Brazil wakes up to four more years of Rousseff leadership
- Date: 27th October 2014
- Summary: BRASILIA, BRAZIL (OCTOBER 26, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** REELECTED PRESIDENT DILMA ROUSSEFF ARRIVING ON STAGE AND WAVING TO A CROWD OF CHEERING SUPPORTERS ROUSSEFF HUGGING FORMER PRESIDENT AND MENTOR LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA AND OTHER COLLEAGUES ON STAGE IN FRONT OF A CROWD OF SUPPORTERS WAVING FLAGS AND CHANTING (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) REELECTED PRESIDENT, DILMA ROUSSEFF, SAYING: "I know what the people are saying when they reelect a president. I heard it in the polls. And because of this, I want to be a much better president than I have been until now." ROUSSEFF SUPPORTERS CELEBRATING IN THE STREET MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL (OCTOBER 26, 2014) (REUTERS) SENATOR AND LOSING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AECIO NEVES ARRIVING WITH HIS WIFE FOR A NEWS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING THE RESULTS NEVES LOOKING AROUND AT SUPPORTERS CHANTING FOR HIM NEVES ON THE PODIUM WITH HIS WIFE IN FRONT OF A CROWD OF JOURNALISTS AND SUPPORTERS RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (OCTOBER 27, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLITICAL ANALYST SONIA FLEURY AT HER HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) POLITICAL ANALYST, SONIA FLEURY, SAYING: "It was a very close result, with only three percent of the votes between them, but it doesn't constitute what people are saying of a fractured country, or of a division of the kind we saw in Venezuela, for example. I don't think this is the case. When Fernando Henrique (Cardoso) beat Lula (Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva) in the elections of 1989, he won with a greater percentage of the vote than Rousseff won this time." PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL (OCTOBER 26, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ROUSSEFF SUPPORTERS WAVING FLAGS IN THE STREET ALONGSIDE PASSING CARS A CROWD OF ROUSSEFF SUPPORTERS WAVING CAMPAIGN FLAGS RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (OCTOBER 27, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) POLITICAL ANALYST, SONIA FLEURY, SAYING: "The government faced very diverse challenges, including an economic crisis in which the country stopped growing. But the government was able to contain unemployment, which was one of Rousseff's main concerns. I think she managed to communicate well to the electorate that whilst the whole world is in crisis, we are facing the crisis well here, keeping jobs and raising the minimum wage. I think this is why she won, as she was able to prove her way of dealing with the crisis." PEOPLE WALKING PAST A NEWSPAPER STAND FRONT PAGE OF O GLOBO NEWSPAPER READING (IN PORTUGUESE): "REELECTED, ROUSSEFF PREACHES UNION AND POLITICAL REFORM" FRONT PAGE OF O DIA NEWSPAPER WITH A PHOTOGRAPH OF A YOUNG ROUSSEFF AND HEADLINE READING (IN PORTUGUESE): "DIL-MORE" VARIOUS OF MAID NEUZA FERNADES READING THE HEADLINES (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) MAID, NEUZA FERNANDEZ, SAYING: "If I am honest, I did not vote, nor for Neves nor for Rousseff. I only voted for the state governor, Pezao. Let's hope that she leads a good government, that's what I am hoping for, that God blesses her. Let's pray for our government." (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) UNIDENTIFIED ROUSSEFF SUPPORTER SAYING: "I voted for Rousseff because there wasn't really a good option. Either one of the candidates was the same really." (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) SECURITY GUARD, JOSE VICENTE, SAYING: "She is doing a good job. Brazil has been much worse before, and it has improved a fair amount. I don't think much is going to change now."
- Embargoed: 11th November 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Brazil
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA97VPMISH3S8BRK7Z9M5HAXR8F
- Story Text: After a tight and bitterly contested presidential election which divided much of the country, Brazil woke up on Monday (October 27) looking ahead to another four years of leadership by the leftist incumbent Dilma Rousseff, taking her Workers' Party into a consecutive 16 year rule.
The 66-year-old Rousseff, who was a Marxist guerrilla in her youth, overcame growing dissatisfaction with the economy, poor public services and corruption allegations to narrowly clinch a second term with 51.6 percent of votes, over centrist senator Aecio Neves's 48.4 percent.
After a bitter, unpredictable campaign that pitted poorer Brazilians grateful for government anti-poverty programs against those exasperated with a stalled economy, Rousseff must now seek to continue flagship social services even as she tweaks economic policies to restore growth.
Most investors are sceptical that Rousseff can turn around the slumping economy after four years of ineffective industrial policies.
Future contracts for Brazil's Bovespa stock index expiring in December fell more than 6 percent on Monday before the Sao Paulo stock exchange opened, while Brazil's currency slipped 3 percent to a nearly six-year low.
Still, Rousseff and aides consistently shrug off market pessimism as little more than tantrums by speculators.
Nevertheless, speaking to a relieved crowd of supporters in Brasilia, the capital, Rousseff acknowledged the close race and the call for change expressed by many voters.
"I know what the people are saying when they reelect a president. I heard it in the polls. And because of this, I want to be a much better president than I have been until now," Dilma announced to a crowd of supporters following the result.
Her slim, three-point margin over centrist candidate Aecio Neves came largely thanks to gains against inequality and poverty since the Workers' Party first came to power in 2003.
Much of her campaign focused on undoing the opponent's image as a sturdy economic handler, arguing that Neves would govern only for the elite, doing away with the social gains the Workers' Party has achieved.
Amidst spars over corruption and nepotism, the contest was broadly reduced to a battle of those prioritizing the economy and those prioritizing the people, in an acrimonious struggle which divided voters.
However, for political analyst Sonia Fleury, the process had not been as divisive as it was made out to be by media and other analysts.
"It was a very close result, with only three percent of the votes between them, but it doesn't constitute what people are saying of a fractured country, or of a division of the kind we saw in Venezuela, for example. I don't think this is the case," Fleury explained to Reuters TV on Monday.
"When Fernando Henrique (Cardoso) beat Lula (Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva) in the elections of 1989, he won with a greater percentage of the vote than Rousseff won this time," Fleury added, referring to Cardoso's 53.06 percentage point win over Lula in the elections which took the country from dictatorship to democracy.
For Fleury, although it was under Rousseff's government that Brazil's economy has stagnated - the pinpoint of the opposition's campaign - it was the way in which she has managed the economic crisis for the people which convinced voters of her value in office.
"The government faced very diverse challenges, including an economic crisis in which the country stopped growing. But the government was able to contain unemployment, which was one of Rousseff's main concerns," said Fleury.
"I think she managed to communicate well to the electorate that whilst the whole world is in crisis, we are facing the crisis well here, keeping jobs and raising the minimum wage. I think this is why she won, as she was able to prove her way of dealing with the crisis," Fleury concluded.
About 40 percent of Brazil's 200 million people live in households earning less than $700 a month, and it was their overwhelming support that gave Rousseff victory on Sunday.
Now, she pledges to deepen social benefits while working to revive an economy that fell into recession in the first half of this year.
She has already promised to replace her finance minister, part of a pledge to rethink economic policies that she has so far been known to all but manage herself.
Still, many voters remained unconvinced of either candidate's ability to deal with Brazil's issues.
"If I am honest, I did not vote, nor for Neves nor for Rousseff," said maid Maria Neuza Fernandez in Rio de Janeiro, "I only voted for the state governor, Pezao. Let's hope that she leads a good government, that's what I am hoping for, that God blesses her. Let's pray for our government."
"I voted for Rousseff because there wasn't really a good option. Either one of the candidates was the same really," another voter told Reuters TV, not wanting to give his name.
"She is doing a good job. Brazil has been much worse before, and it has improved a fair amount. I don't think much is going to change now," added security guard Jose Vicente, approving Rousseff's reelection over Neves, but showing little hope for the effects.
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