Dilma Rousseff

Brazil presidential elections: Dilma Rousseff set to become world's most powerful woman | Mail Online

A former Marxist guerilla from Brazil is set to become the most powerful woman in the world - more influential than U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Dilma Rousseff, 62, represents the ruling Workers Party and is the hand-chosen successor of outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

He led Brazil to unparalleled economic growth and increasing political clout on the global stage.

The Latin American country's growth rate is rivalled only by China - and is one that Europe and America can only look at with envy.
Elections: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, centre, Workers Party presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff, left, and Workers Party Sao Paulo State Governor candidate Alisio Mercadante, right, raise arms during a campaign rally yesterday

Elections: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, centre, Workers Party presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff, left, and Workers Party Sao Paulo State Governor candidate Alisio Mercadante, right, raise arms during a campaign rally yesterday

Historic: Lula and Rousseff sweep through the Brazilian town of Sao Bernardo do Campo yesterday

Historic: Lula and Rousseff sweep through the Brazilian town of Sao Bernardo do Campo yesterday
Fighter: A 1970 police mugshot of Rousseff, who was jailed and tortured for three years for her role as a Marxist guerilla against the Western-backed military regime

Fighter: A 1970 police mugshot of Rousseff, who was jailed and tortured for three years for her role as a Marxist guerilla against the Western-backed military regime

Now the latest polls show Rousseff - the former leader of a resistance against a Western-backed dictatorship that tortured her - is set to make history and become Brazil's first female president.

The mother, grandmother, and cancer survivor has been in politics since she was 16 years old.

After army generals took over Brazil in 1964, she joined the Palmares Armed Revolutionary Vanguard - a clandestine group that took up arms against what they viewed as an illegitimate military regime.

Rousseff swears she never used weapons. Even so, she was jailed for three years in Brazil's equivalent of Abu Ghraib prison, the Tiradentes prison in Sao Paulo, where she was tortured.

When she was finally freed, she went back to university and began working for the new state goverment in 1975.

From there she climbed the ranks to become Lula's chief of staff - effectively his prime minister.

Now, with a lead of about 20 percentage points over her closest rival, Jose Serra, a 68-year-old centrist from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party who was heavily defeated by Mr Silva in the 2002 election, she is on course to take the presidency.

Rousseff sailed through the last TV debate before Sunday's vote.

The former chief of staff faced few real challenges from her three main rivals in a mostly uneventful debate on TV Globo, the country's largest and most influential television network.

Unlike in other debates in this campaign, there was no mention of recent ethics scandals involving Rousseff's Workers' Party.

Serra mentioned in passing a vote-buying scandal that rocked the Lula government in 2005 but largely steered clear of attacking the frontrunner.

What's more, Rousseff and Serra did not engage each other directly at all in the late-night debate in which all four candidates failed to showcase the kind of charisma that Brazilians have become accustomed to under the wildly popular Lula, who cannot run for a third straight term.
Big day: Rousseff, shown here during the rally in the town of Sao Bernardo do Campo yesterday, is hoping her bid will succeed today

Big day: Rousseff, shown here during the rally in the town of Sao Bernardo do Campo yesterday, is hoping her bid will succeed in the elections today

Serra and the other two opposition candidates - Marina Silva of the Green Party and Plinio de Arruda Sampaio of a small socialist party - all sought to link Rousseff to the Lula government's shortcomings, ranging from shabby healthcare to a chronic housing deficit.

Silva, who has gained a few points in recent opinion polls at Rousseff's expense, looked emboldened at times, confidently challenging Serra's record at improving housing for the poor when he was governor of Sao Paulo state.

Serra seemed to stick to a campaign strategy that has proven ineffective so far -- avoiding remarks that could be construed as aggressive, which his aides fear would irk Brazilian voters.

Rousseff, for her part, was careful to tout the Lula government's achievements at every turn, clearly mindful of polls showing that most Brazilians want more of the same.

'My goal is to make Brazil a developed country,' she said.
Dilma Rousseff as a baby in an undated family photo
Dilma Rousseff as a baby in an undated family photo

The little girl who grew up to make history: Rousseff in two undated photographs from a family album

Before the debate, a survey by polling firm Datafolha showed the career civil servant with 52 per cent of valid votes, down from a peak of 57 per cent two weeks ago but above the 50 per cent threshold she needs to avoid a runoff on October 31.

Serra has struggled to sell his message 'Brazil can do better' amid the strongest economic expansion in three decades.

He had 31 per cent of valid votes in the latest Datafolha poll, slipping from 32 per cent.

TV Globo reaches the most distant corners of this continent-sized country with the biggest audience of any network, although the debate's timing after the nightly soap opera show may have put off many viewers.
Last chance: Presidential candidates Jose Serra, left, Marina Silva, centre, and Dilma Rousseff attend a live TV presidential candidate debate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday night

Last chance: Presidential candidates Jose Serra, left, Marina Silva, centre, and Dilma Rousseff attend a live TV presidential candidate debate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday night

The final debate has been seen as potentially important ever since a poor performance by Lula in 1989 turned the tide in favor of rival Fernando Collor de Mello in Brazil's first direct presidential elections after the end of military rule.

Lula lost to Collor then, the first of three elections the former metalworker would lose before winning in 2002.

Since then, Brazil has cast off its reputation of being unstable and become one of the world's fastest-growing emerging markets.

A decision on voting procedures by Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday could further benefit Rousseff.

The top tribunal voted to relax a rule that required voters to present both a registration card and photo identity card at the polling booth. Now voters will only need the photo ID.

That may benefit poorer and less-educated voters, who often lack proper documentation and make up a large proportion of Rousseff's supporters.