Continuing Latin America's 'Left Turn,' Brazil's Rousseff Wins Re-Election

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff was re-elected in a narrow victory on Sunday.

Beating opponent Aecio Neves of the Social Democrat party by a slim 51.6 percent to 48.3 percent, Rousseff's win continues a dozen years of rule by the Workers Party.

Speaking to supporters in Brasilia following the election results, Rousseff said, "I want to be a much better president than I have been up to now."

"We're going to continue building a better Brazil, a more inclusive, more modern, more productive Brazil. A country of solidarity and opportunities," she said.

Reuters reports that her "victory, however narrow, is a blow for conservatives in the region."

Noting that "we are more than a decade and a half into Latin America's 'left turn,' Greg Grandin writes at The Nation, "It's not hard to understand why: economics."

On the left's economic gains in Brazil, Center for Economic and Policy Research Co-Director Mark Weisbrot stated, "The Workers Party governments have delivered on clear economic and social gains since they first came to power in 2003, and voters apparently want those gains to continue."

"Poverty has been greatly reduced; 31.5 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty as poverty has been lowered by over 55 percent and extreme poverty by 65 percent. Inequality has decreased while the minimum wage has been nearly doubled and social spending has consistently increased," Weisbrot continued.