Rio De Janeiro: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was re-elected on the narrowest of margins on Sunday, winning a second term on a platform of expanding social programs and further reducing inequality. Rousseff won a fourth term for her left-wing Workers’ Party with 51.6 per cent of votes against 48.4 for her right-of-centre challenger Aecio Neves.
Rousseff’s victory extends the rule of the Workers’ Party, which has held the presidency since 2003. During that time, they’ve enacted expansive social programs that have helped pull millions of Brazilians out of poverty and into the middle class.
The Workers’ Party’s time in power has seen a profound transformation in Brazil. But four straight years of weak economic growth under Rousseff, with an economy that’s now in a technical recession, has some worried those gains are under threat.
Brazilians want it all. They are worried about the economy being sluggish and stagnant but they want to preserve social gains that have been made,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue. “The question is which candidate is best equipped to deliver both of those.
Rousseff rejected those allegations and told Brazilians that a vote for Neves would be support for returning Brazil to times of intense economic turbulence, hyperinflation and high unemployment, which the nation encountered when the Social Democrats last held power.
Bureau Report
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