Brazil Bids Farewell to Lula, Ready to Inaugurate First Female Leader

A photo provided by the Brazilian Presidency shows Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (L) hugging and kissing Dilma Rousseff after her triumph in the run-off vote on 31 October. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Brazil's hugely popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is to step down Saturday, in a lavish ceremony ushering in his successor and protegee, Dilma Rousseff.

Rousseff, who is of Bulgarian origin, will become the first female president of Latin America's largest nation when she is sworn in Saturday.

62-year-old Rousseff of the Workers' Party defeated Social-Democratic Party candidate Jose Serra in the second round of Brazil's Presidential Elections on October 31.

Rousseff grabbed hold of the Brazilian Presidency with 55.39% of the valid votes in the runoff, vs. 44.61% for Serra.

On October 3, 2010, Bulgaria-descended Dilma Rousseff from the Workers' Party won the first round of Brazil's presidential elections but fell short of the 50% plus 1 vote needed to evade a runoff. Back then Rousseff won more than 46.6% in the first round of Brazil's presidential elections, while her main rival Serra received about 33% in the first round, and Marina Silva from the Green Party, who is believed to have "stolen" votes mostly from Rousseff, was third with about 20%.

Dilma Rousseff is believed to have won the second round of the presidential elections primarily thanks to the votes of the poorer and middle class layers of the Brazilian society.

Brazil's outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva himself won both of his terms in the elections in 2002 and 2006 after second-round runoffs. Prior to that Lula ran in every presidential elections since democracy was restored in Brazil in 1985.

A total of nine candidates ran for the presidency of Brazil, with other frontrunners including Marina Silva from the Green Party and Plinio de Arruda Sampaio from the Socialism and Freedom Party.

Rousseff, who has never held an elected office before, has herself acknowledged that her popularity is primarily the result of her promotion by extremely popular president Lula da Silva, whose two terms in office turned Brazil into a world-scale economic powerhouse.

Lula's former cabinet chief Dilma Rousseff, who would be Brazil's first female president, has vowed to maintain the social programs and the economic growth that has lifted 21 million people out of poverty since 2003, and has created 15 million new jobs. The Brazilian economy is expected to grow by 7.53% this year, the most since 1985, according to a recent central bank survey.

Until she was tapped by Lula da Silva, Rousseff was the president's little-known Energy Minister and, later, his Chief of Staff. She is also known for being a former Marxist guerrilla, surviving torture in the hands of the military dictatorship in Brazil more than three decades ago.

Rousseff's father, Petar Rusev, also know as Pedro Rousseff, was a Bulgarian leftist who emigrated to France in 1929, and then left for Latin America in the 1944.

Detailed profile of Dilma Rousseff READ HERE

Detailed information about the Bulgarian origin and family of Dilma Rousseff READ HERE

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