Election results are now coming out from Brazil, showing that Dilma Rousseff, Worker's Party successor of highly popular President Lula, has become Brazil's first female President. I just wanted to get this very exciting breaking news to the Daily Kos community, but let me add some brief background.
With nearly 100% of the votes now tallied (electronic voting booths in Brazil allow for counting over 100 million votes in sub 2 hours), Dilma Rousseff has captured nearly 55.5 million votes (56% of total) to Jose Serra's 42.5 million (44% of total). Dilma had to fight against Brazil's strongest right-wing forces: media, military, and the Church, all very well diaried by our own SLKRR (I highly recommend all his diaries for those interested in Brazilian politics and the run-up to this historic election).
Today's victory highlights the strength of Brazilian democracy in many ways. Dilma becomes the largest female direct vote-getter in history and Brazil becomes the largest nation to directly elect a female head of government. Perhaps more importantly, however, is her past as a Marxist guerrilla against Brazil's military government. Brazil has consolidated its democracy like never before by overseeing a peaceful transfer of power to a female, ex-Marxist guerrilla less than three decades after a military dictatorship. It will be interesting to see how she will govern, as many believe she will represent the left-wing of the PT, as opposed to Lula, who moved to the political center to build a broader coalition and appease monied interests that threatened to bring the Brazilian economy to a screeching halt unless Lula played ball, much to the chagrin of Brazil's hard left. Dilma will have an even greater mandate to bring sweeping change thanks to her party's success in Congress.
For those of you in the midst of a difficult and bitter battle to painfully move America forward, I hope you look at this as a last-minute extra source of inspiration, that a brighter future is indeed possible despite having the entire right-wing apparatus activated to destroy your interests. Today, the Brazilian Left will be celebrating through the night, and I hope you will be working non-stop in the next 48 hours to join us on Tuesday night!
Update, NYT has a very good article up:
Hundreds of supporters gathered on the streets of Sao Paulo and the capital Brasilia, dancing and waving red flags for both the Workers' Party and the labor unions that form its base.
The result completed an unlikely journey for Rousseff that took her from jail and brutal torture by her military captors in the 1970s to become the first woman to lead Latin America's largest economy.