Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Wins Presidential Run-Off Election

rousseff supporters — Supporters of Brazil's President and Workers' Party (PT) presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff react to results of the Brazil general elections in Porto Alegre, Oct. 26, 2014. Reuters/Paulo Whitaker

Leftist Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff scored a narrow re-election run-off victory Sunday, defeating centrist opposition leader Aecio Neves, 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent. The campaign was one of the most divisive in Brazil in decades.

Neves conceded with 99.6 percent of the vote counted.

"We have to calm our hearts down first and then get back to work tomorrow," Rousseff, 66, told reporters, Reuters reported. Ideli Salvatti, one of Rousseff's top allies, said the government would seek "national reconciliation."

dilma rousseff — Brazil's President and Workers' Party (PT) presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff reacts during news conference after the disclosure of the election results in Brasilia Oct. 26, 2014. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Supporters in Brasilia erupted in cheers as the results were announced, the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported. The Telegraph said Rousseff racked up huge numbers in northern Brazil and won the key state of Minas Gerais where Neves had been governor.

The victory gives the Workers' Party four more years in power. Since 2003 it virtually has transformed Brazil, reducing the number living in poverty by 40 million, cutting unemployment and making inroads against hunger; however, the economy, Latin America's largest, is slowing amid corruption scandals and high inflation.

neves — Presidential candidate Aecio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) arrives to give a speech after learning the results of the Brazil general elections in Belo Horizonte, Oct. 26, 2014. Reuters/Sergio Moraes

Rousseff mended fences with the United States following Edward Snowden's US. spying revelations torpedoed a scheduled visit to Washington, but she has little interest in foreign policy, the Economist reported.

Salvadoran President Salvador Sánchez Ceren, a former guerrilla commander, hailed Rousseff's victory.

"Holiday in Brazil and Latin America. Our people have decided to continue building their welfare and happiness," Sánchez Ceren, Agence France-Presse reported.