Ms Rousseff won 56 per cent of
the valid votes compared with 44 per cent for her opponent, Jose Serra, with 99
per cent of all votes counted.
“I’m very happy. I want to thank
all Brazilians for this moment and I promise to honour the trust they have
shown me,” Ms Rousseff told reporters in the capital Brasilia in her first
public words after the result was announced.
In a speech shortly afterwards
she spoke of her pride at being the first woman to lead her country and paid
tribute to the people of Brazil.
“Equality of opportunity between
men and women is an essential principle of democracy,” she said. “What gave me
more confidence and hope at the same time was the immense capacity of our
people to seize an opportunity, however small, to build a better world with
it.”
Hundreds of supporters gathered
on the streets of Sao Paulo and Brasilia, dancing and waving red flags for the
Workers’ Party and the unions that form its base.
Ms Rousseff, a former Marxist guerrilla and twice-divorced
grandmother, will replace President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as the leader
of Latin America´s biggest country on January 1 next year.
President Lula had chosen Ms
Rousseff as the candidate of the ruling Workers´ Party which he founded.
Ms Roussef had enjoyed a
double-digit lead over her Mr Serra in the final days before Sunday´s election.
After casting her vote in the
city of Porto Alegre, in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, Ms Rousseff,
62, gave a thumbs up and a victory sign.
Speaking as he voted in Sao
Paulo, Brazil´s biggest city, Mr Serra said that he had faced "an uneven
battle" reflecting the fact that the strength of the economy has benefited
Ms Rousseff as the candidate of the ruling Workers' Party.
Ms Rousseff is expected to
continue with the mix of market-friendly policies and social programmes to
alleviate poverty that has characterised President Lula´s reign.
But political analysts believe
the new incumbent will find it difficult to emulate the international influence
of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whom US President Barack Obama once
called "the most popular politician on earth".
Ms Rousseff, who had a
middle-class upbringing, became active in left-wing politics as a student and
was heavily involved with resistance to Brazil´s military dictatorship, which
ruled the country from 1964 to 1985.
She was captured and jailed in
1970 and subjected to electric shocks while serving her sentence.
After her release at the end of
1972 she studied economics and went on to become a career civil servant.
She served as energy minister and
then President Lula's chief of staff from 2005 until stepping down to run for
president earlier this year.
President Lula was
constitutionally barred from running again after serving two terms but enjoys
approval ratings of around 80 per cent and has been a key factor in Ms
Rousseff´s campaign.
He has appeared at her side at
every opportunity with his undoubted charisma helping to overcome Ms Rousseff´s
reputation as stern and dour, which has led to her being nicknamed the 'Iron
Lady'.
Yesterday´s vote was a second
round run-off after Ms Rousseff failed to secure the 50 per cent of the vote
she needed in the first round four weeks ago.
She had 47 per cent with Mr
Serra, of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) and a former
governor of Sao Paulo state, on 33 per cent and Marina Silva, of the Green
Party, scoring an unexpectedly high 19 per cent.
Mr Serra closed the gap in
opinion polls to as little as four percentage points after the first round.
Ms Rousseff came under pressure
over claims she would relax Brazil´s strict laws on abortion, which make it
illegal except in cases of rape, where the mother's life is in danger or when
the foetus has severe genetic abnormalities.
But she began to surge ahead
again after pledging that she would not make abortion easier and successfully
steering the debate back towards the economic growth of Brazil.
Ms Rousseff showed how confident
she was of victory as she spoke on Saturday in her home city of Belo Horizonte,
in the state of Minas Gerais - sometimes referred to as Brazil´s Ohio for its
reliability in indicating election winners.
"I will govern for all Brazilians,"
she announced.
Challenges for Ms Rousseff will
include dealing with Brazil´s overvalued currency, improving infrastructure
before the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics of 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and
overseeing investment in the oil fields off the country´s south eastern coast.
For Mr Serra, 68, a former mayor
of Sao Paulo and governor of Sao Paulo state, it was not the first time he had
been involved in a presidential run off.
The 2002 election also required a
second round contest in which Mr Serra was easily defeated by Lula, who was
elected president with more than 60 per cent of the vote.