All eyes are on Brazil's presidential elections which were held today. As it stands, Dilma Rousseff, a 62-year-old economist, will become the nation's first woman president. Rousseff was supported by outgoing President Lula who has served his maximum two terms.
Almost 80 percent of the votes are counted, and Rousseff has 45.4 percent of the valid votes. 136 million people are eligible to vote in Brazilian elections today. Dilma Rousseff needs 50 percent of the vote to declare a victory.
Brazil is the largest and most populated country in Latin America. Its most recent president, Luiz Inancio da Silva was extremely popular among Brazilians. Rousseff has been described as a "Marxist guerilla rebel' who became a civil servant, specifically President Lula's chief minister.
In a recent meeting in NYC with political and business leaders, Rousseff said that Brazil is "ready to be led by a woman. It's something important for Brazil,"she said. "Women know how to nurture."
"Brazil is ready to be led by a woman" Brazil's president-elect Dilma Rousseff
Rousseff was endorsed by Brazil's ruling Worker's Party. If Rousseff doesn't gather the 50 percent needed, then the election will go into a run-off which would be held October 31. Sao Paulo state governor Jose Serra trails Rousseff with 33.9 percent of the votes. Marina Silva, who ran on Brazli's Green Party ticket, may have taken a significant percentage of votes away from Rousseff.
Silva garnered 20.4 percent of the votes and if there is a runoff, political analysts believe Silva's supporters would cast their votes for Rousseff. However, most believe the election win is quite certain for Rousseff because unofficial exit polls give Rousseff 51 percent of the votes.
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