Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has been re-elected for another term, meaning the Partido dos Trabalhador, or the workers party, will have held the majority power for 16 years at the end of her term, according to The Associated Press.
Rousseff almost lost, but won the winning votes after convincing voters that her party's strong record of reducing poverty over the last 12 years was more important than a recent economic slump, the AP reported.
Rousseff won 51.6 percent of votes in a runoff against centrist opposition leader Aecio Neves, who won 48.4 percent support, according to the AP. The recent presidential debates have been heated with finger pointing and accusations of corruption.
Due to the poverty programs that have been put in place since previous president Luis Inacio da Silva, Rousseff took the Amazon north and impoverished northeast states which benefit from the programs aimed at the poorer class, the AP reported.
Neves prevailed in Brazil's richer south, southeast and center-west, while Rousseff took the Amazon north and impoverished northeast, according to the AP.
During her victory speech in the capital of Brasilia, Rousseff said "dialogue" would be the first promise for her second term, but she did not go into details about any new plans to better other concerns brought to light by voters, the AP reported.
"That's why I want to be a much better president than I have been until now," Rousseff added, according to the AP.
Since Rousseff won the presidency, the economy has averaged less than 2 percent annual growth, the AP reported.
Rousseff and her officials has been involved in numerous corruption scandals, including the with latest PetroBras, and the public has expressed frustration over poor public services like healthcare and public transportation and safety, according to the AP. After Rousseff was deemed as the likely winner last week, Brazil's financial markets plummeted.
