Brasilia, Brazil (AHN) – Brazilians elected their first female president as officials declared on Sunday that presidential chief of staff and former energy minister Dilma Rousseff won the runoff elections against former Sao Paolo governor and health minister Jose Serra.

The Superior Electoral Court or TSE declared Rousseff, 62, the winner with 92 percent of the votes counted. Her votes constitute 55 percent of counted ballots with Serra getting 46 percent.

Rousseff needed the runoff to clinch the presidency after failing to win majority of votes in the first round of voting on Oct. 3. She only got 47 percent of votes while Serra got 33 percent. There are more than 130 million voters in Brazil.

Rousseff is outgoing President Luiz Inacio da Silva’s right-hand woman and pick to succeed him. His popularity and her self-proclaimed accomplishment of turning Brazil into one of the world’s leading energy giant were instrumental in her win.

Both Rousseff and rival Serra were victims of political persecutions in the 1960s. In her election campaign, she promised to continue the policies and programs of da Silva, who could no longer run for a third term under the country’s constitution.

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