The Labour Party candidate Dilma Rousseff has achieved a victory in the second round of the elections for President of Brazil with 54% of the total votes, have the authorities reported after processing most of the data, according to Agence France-Presse. Her opponent Jose Serra has received 46% of all votes, as stated by the Federal Election Commission having processed about 98% of the voting data.

That 98% voting data has confirmed that the 62-year-old daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant will be the successor to her mentor from the Labour Party, the present President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Taking up the position on 1 January 2011, Dilma Rousseff will be the first female President in Brazil’s history.

Her competitor, the former Governor of Sao Paulo – Jose Serra insisted the final results will be known only after the last voting-paper has been counted.

The 62-year-old Rousseff, with Bulgarian origins and a longtime Socialist Party activist, actually won the first round of the presidential elections, however she did not manage to get absolute majority of votes. After the first round of the elections, being held in the beginning of October, Rousseff gathered the support of 45,96% of the voters. Serra managed to collect 33% of the votes.

Present President da Silva, who can not run in these elections after two consecutive mandates, expressed his support for his former Head of Office.

In an interview during her time as a Chief of Staff in the Brazilian government, Dilma Rousseff said:
“As a Brazilian government member, I have a special relationship with Bulgaria, and feel engaged to develop a deeper mutual cooperation between our both countries, since that would be a great personal achievement considering my position”. I am half Bulgarian, half Brazilian. Therefore, in my work I aim to realize my double destiny in a such matter, which is of benefit for both Bulgaria and Brazil. We have plenty of opportunities to have a good cooperation, we only have to elaborate on them.

So could we expect relations between Bulgaria and Brazil to receive a significant boost in the future, after the new president of Brazil has admitted she has a special place in her heart for Bulgaria ? Well, perhaps … Despite the geographical remoteness and differences of size (territory, population, GNP), there are also some similarities, mainly related to the stage of socioeconomic development, since both countries have went through a series of changes during the past few decades.