BRAZIL-ELECTION/NEVES REAX Neves addresses Brazil after losing election to incumbent Rousseff

Record ID: 708187

  • Title: BRAZIL-ELECTION/NEVES REAX Neves addresses Brazil after losing election to incumbent Rousseff
  • Date: 27th October 2014
  • Summary: BELO HORIZONTE, BRAZIL (OCTOBER 26, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, SENATOR AND FORMER GOVERNOR AECIO NEVES ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE WITH HIS WIFE CLOSE-UP OF NEVES ACKNOWLEDGING HIS SUPPORTERS' CHANTS NEVES ON THE PODIUM SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, AECIO NEVES, SAYING: "I spoke to the re-elected president not long ago by telephone and wished her success in the administration of her next government, and I reaffirmed what I feel should be our greatest priority, to unite Brazil on the basis of an honourable project which dignifies all Brazilians." NEVES STANDING AT THE PODIUM WITH HIS WIFE AS SUPPORTERS CHANT CAMERAS FILMING THE NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AECIO NEVES, SAYING: "More alive than ever, more hopeful than ever, I leave this campaign at the very end with the feeling that we fulfilled our role, and to close, I repeat once again 'Sao Paulo' (where Neves gained a majority) because for me it depicts in the clearest way the very feeling I have in my heart and soul. I fought a good fight, I accomplished my mission, and I have not lost faith. Thank you very much to all Brazilians." NEVES' COLLEAGUES AND ATTENDEES CLAPPING AT THE END OF THE SPEECH NEVES AND HIS WIFE MAKING THEIR WAY OUT OF THE NEWS CONFERENCE THROUGH THE CROWDS
  • Embargoed: 11th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9N2W3CSU2U88U5PD9AM4LXMOV
  • Story Text: Brazilian centrist senator and former governor Aecio Neves conceded to leftist President Dilma Rousseff who won a second term in office on Sunday (October 26), narrowly beating his Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) in one of the closest, most divisive campaigns the country has seen since the return to democracy in 1989.
    With more than 99 percent of the votes tallied, Rousseff won 51.6 percent of votes, over Neves' 48.4 percent, and Neves quickly conceded defeat.
    "I spoke to the re-elected president not long ago by telephone and wished her success in the administration of her next government, and I reaffirmed what I feel should be our greatest priority, to unite Brazil on the basis of an honourable project which dignifies all Brazilians," he said at a rally in Belo Horizonte.
    The result means another four years in power for the Workers' Party, which since 2003 has virtually transformed Brazil - lifting 40 million from poverty, reducing unemployment to record lows and making big inroads against hunger in what remains one of the world's most unequal countries.
    Neves' campaign strove to tell votes how the economy has slowed dramatically under Rousseff's policies, making Brazil's glory days of robust growth last decade an ever-more distant memory. It also highlighted numerous corruption scandals, high inflation and frustration over poor public services like health care under Rousseff's government, and offered the alternative of a more pro-business agenda.
    Yet Rousseff and her supporters spent the campaign warning voters, especially the poor, that a vote for the PSDB would mean a return to the less compassionate, more unequal Brazil of the 1990s - an argument that Neves rigourously denied, but ultimately prevailed anyway.
    A crisis in Sao Paulo further added pressure to the PSDB's campaign, given the party's responsibility in governing the state, to handle water management.
    Sao Paulo remained a stronghold for PSDB support, however, where a relatively higher concentration of prosperous and business-minded voters gave Neves the 64.31 percent of the valid votes.
    "More alive than ever, more hopeful than ever, I leave this campaign at the very end with the feeling that we fulfilled our role, and to close, I repeat once again 'Sao Paulo' because for me it depicts in the clearest way the very feeling I have in my heart and soul. I fought a good fight, I accomplished my mission, and I have not lost faith," Neves said.
    Neves' PSDB faces an uncertain future after falling short in three straight presidential contests due in part to its image as the party of Brazil's wealthy minority.
    The election was one of the most dramatic since full democracy returned to Brazil in 1989. One candidate was killed in a plane crash in August, and his replacement then soared into the lead in opinion polls, only to fade in the final days before the first round of voting on October 5.
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