Former Marxist guerilla poised to become Brazil's first woman president
A former Marxist guerilla is poised to become Brazil's first woman president and join the growing list of female leaders in Latin America.
By Robin Yapp
Published: 5:30PM BST 01 Oct 2010
Dilma Rousseff, former Chief of Staff and presidential candidate for the ruling Workers Party Photo: AFP
Dilma Rousseff, who spent nearly three years in jail during her country's years of military dictatorship and was tortured behind bars, appears to be on course to secure victory in Sunday's election. A series of polls in recent days have suggested that Ms Rousseff, 62, may narrowly pass the 50 per cent of the vote she needs to be elected outright.
Some analysts have predicted that she could fall marginally short but her lead of around 20 percentage-points over her main rival Jose Serra, of the opposition PDSB party, means she would expect a comfortable victory in a run-off at the end of the month.
She would join Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the current president of Argentina, and Michelle Bachelet, who served as Chile's first woman president from 2006 until March this year, as recent women leaders in South America.
Costa Rica also elected its first woman president, Laura Chinchilla, earlier this year. The daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant father and a teacher, Ms Rousseff comes from a middle-class background but was active in guerilla groups that fought Brazil's military dictatorship, which held power from 1964 to 1985.
She was jailed in 1970 and subjected to electric shocks during her sentence before being released at the end of 1972. After her release Ms Rousseff studied economics and established herself as a career civil servant. She served as energy minister under the outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva before becoming his chief of staff.
Her campaign has benefited hugely from her association with Mr Lula, the man referred to as "the most popular politician on earth" by President Barack Obama. But her poll ratings have dipped from a peak of 57 per cent two weeks ago after campaign aides were accused of leaking Mr Serra's tax records and Erenice Guerra, her replacement as cabinet chief, was forced to step down amid a corruption scandal.
Ms Rousseff, who survived lymphatic cancer last year, has taken to calling on members of her ruling Workers Party to "get into the streets to grab each vote." Mr Serra has attacked the Workers Party over Brazil's close relations with Iran and by claiming that the country's "mega over-valued" currency was hurting exports but has struggled to make any significant inroads into Ms Rousseff's lead.
