Voters chose Dilma Rousseff of the leftist Workers Party (PT) to be Brazil's 36th president in a runoff election on Oct. 31. Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) president Ricardo Lewandowski said in a press conference in the early evening that Rousseff's victory was now mathematically certain. With 93.25% of the ballots counted, Rousseff had won 55.43% of the valid votes to 44.57% for José Serra of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB); the two candidates had led in the first round on Oct. 3. More than 93 million Brazilians participated in the Oct. 31 voting.

Rousseff, whose four-year term begins on Jan. 1, will succeed fellow PT member Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who remains popular after serving two consecutive terms. She will be the country's first woman president. (Prensa Latina, Oct. 31)

From Weekly News Update on the Americas, Oct. 31.

See our last post on Brazil.